San Raffaele: Where Healing Is Our Foundation

San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation - Geneva Office

CLINIC – A large hospital model of assistance in Italy and abroad

RESEARCH – One of the most important biomedical research centers in Europe

EDUCATION at the highest level with Vita-Salute University

INSTITUTIONAL SECTION

The San Raffaele del Monte Tabor non-profit private Foundation was founded in 1971 by Father Luigi M. Verzé, a priest from Verona, disciple of San Giovanni Calabria and the Blessed Idelfonso Schuster. His mission followed the evangelic message “Go, teach, heal” through assistance, research and education. The Foundation carries out its activities at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute and San Raffaele Turro Hospital and in collaboration with other companies correlated in various ways: check up and professional medicine with Punti Raf, laboratory medicine with Laboraf, science park and intellectual property management with Science Park Raf, telemedicine with Telbios, molecular medicine with MolMed.
The Foundation is also involved with related non-profit organizations: the Italian Association for Solidarity among Populations (AISPO), Cittadella della Carità Hospital of Taranto, San Raffaele Giglio Hospital in Cefalù, Sao Rafael Hospital in Salvador de Bahia, and the Areté Onlus Foundation that supports the San Raffaele Institute and its University. The Foundation gave way to the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in 1996.

55 YEARS AGO ONLY AN IDEA. TODAY, A REALITY

1950: Cardinal Schuster, Archbishop of Milan, asks Father Luigi M. Verzé to realize a “Christian Hospital” in Milan.
1958: The ‘Centro Assistenza Ospedaliera S. Romanello’ , today called Monte Tabor Association, is founded to build the hospital.
1964: The Monte Tabor house site is inaugurated: formation center originating from the Sigilli Association, inspired by Don Verzé for the assumption of the founding principles required to guarantee the continuous carrying out of the work.
1969: The mayors of Milan and Segrate lay the first stone of the hospital on the border between the two cities.
1971: First patient is hospitalized.
1972: The Health and Education Ministries recognize San Raffaele Hospital as an “Scientific Hospitalization and Treatment Institute”.
1973: The San Raffaele becomes a University Center for the Faculty of Medicine of the Università degli Studi di Milano.
1980/91: The Departments of Rehabilitative Medicine and of Neuroscience are built, the lot dedicated to cardiovascular diseases and the S. Luigi Center for AIDS research and assistance.
1992: The Biomedical Scientific Park is created and the Biotechnologies Department the year after.
1996: The Vita-Salute San Raffaele University with the Faculty of Psychology is founded, with the Faculty of Medicine in 1998 and the faculty of Philosophy in 2002.
2004: The foundation is laid for the construction of a second research department, of the Mother-Infant ward and the new Emergency ward, the Hotel Accommodation center and the Infant Day Care for hospital employees.

CLINICAL SECTION

“What is the San Raffaele Hospital? A place where the love of God is evident in its activities. Where those who work, who suffer and who die are not classified according to pathology, religion, culture, economic level, hierarchy, but are only loved by God and by those who caring for them.”

San Raffaele is one of the most important hospitals in Italy. Thanks to intense research activities it has become one of the leading centers in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and numerous pathologies, both acute and chronic-degenerative.
In thirty years of activity, it has become involved in all types of activities, using the most state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment techniques. The Institute was the first center in the world to use stem cells in routine cornea transplants, and to perform genetic therapy surgery for the cure of a rare immune disease and is currently the only center in Italy where pancreatic island transplants are performed in the treatment of diabetes.

THE BEST TREATMENT AT THE SERVICE OF MAN

The San Raffaele Scientific University Institute was inaugurated in 1971. One year later, it was recognized by the Health and Education Ministries as a “Scientific Hospitalization and Treatment Institute”.
Located East of Milan on 300,000 square meters of land, the hospital has 1,068 beds an agreement with the National Health Service. With over 3,500 employees, the San Raffaele records 55,000 hospitalizations, 21,000 operations, 50,000 Emergency room admittances and over 6 million out-patient treatments.
A beautiful square lies in front of the hospital with an impressive bell and a fountain decorated with a bas-relief representing the Good Samaritan parable representing a new modality in the total care of man. The Gallery of Shops, a commercial area that offers services to patients and visitors (bookstore, supermarket, beauty salon, coffee shop, orthopedic goods, and banking services) is next to the shuttle stop that connects the hospital to public transportation. A fenced in green area called ‘The San Raffaele Oasis’ surrounds the hospital and hosts various types of animals; the area also includes the San Raffaele Horse Center, where hippotherapy is performed, and lodging. The entire complex is designed to make patients feel as comfortable as possible.
San Raffaele is present in Milan also with the San Raffaele Turro clinic with 314 beds, the Cesare Pozzo out-patient clinic and Punti Raf diagnostic and out-patient clinics.

SAN RAFFAELE IN THE WORLD

San Raffaele hospital has realized its mission to go, teach and heal in the world setting up health care projects in fifteen poor countries: in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil with a 500-bed hospital and health centers for the treatment of leprosy and basic assistance; in India, with a 120 bed hospital and in Drahamsala with a mother-infant center; in Uganda, with programs to help fight against infections, and in Bethlehem, Poland, Nicaragua, China, Iraq, Albania, Afghanistan.
In 1984 the San Raffaele Foundation created AISPO, an organization that promotes solidarity in the health field in developing countries. In 1985, the association was recognized as being capable of realizing health cooperation projects and training activities in the International Cooperation field.
It works with the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry and benefits from financing granted by the EU and the ONU. In 2005, it worked in Sri Lanka alongside the Italian Civil protection organization to offer health care assistance to the population hit by the tsunami.

RESEARCH SECTION

“Man is not man without knowledge. The more man knows, the more man is man. Scientific research is fundamental in the search for truth”

In 1972, San Raffaele was recognized by the Italian Government as “Scientific Hospitalization and Treatment Institute” with three main lines of research for which the Institute soon became the national point of reference:

diabetes and metabolic diseases (only reference point in the country)
biomedical technology development
biotechnology

In 2001, the Health Ministry recognised it as being a scientific institute specialised in molecular medicine, the only one of its kind in Italy.
The intense research activity is shown by the more than 600 works published each year in the most important scientific journals with a total impact factor evaluation of more than 3000 and a productivity rate that is more than 12%, the highest among the national scientific institutes. The basic research is carried out along with intense clinical research. Each year San Raffaele sets up about 200 trials in a wide range of fields: infectious diseases, neurology, urology, diabetology, ophthalmology, oncology, hematology and anesthesia and intensive care.

TECHNOLOGIES OF LIFE, FOR LIFE

The San Raffaele Biotechnologies Department (DiBit) was created in 1992 and is one of the most important basic research centers in Europe today and the largest scientific biotechnological private park in Italy.
The center features 40,000 square meters of laboratory space where over 400 researchers work.
Research is carried out in the fields of genetic therapy, stem cell research, immunodeficiency and neurodegenerative diseases, proteomic, biocomputer technology, neurobiology and molecular biology studies.
The center includes important research areas in functional genomics, neuroscience, immunology, infectious diseases, molecular hematology and oncology and diabetology.
The center is also involved in two important translational research programs, regarding pancreatic island transplants and cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy.
In the recent years, the San Raffaele research center has reached high levels of excellence in the field of cellular and molecular biology and, in particular, in the identification and sequencing of the human genome.
Today, it is one of the most important European centers for biomedical research in this field.
A new center is currently being built (DiBiT2) for increasing the clinical applications of molecular medicine and to extend the basic research, especially in proteomics, in biocomputer technology and quantitative biology.

EDUCATION SECTION

“Science, knowledge and research allow us to discover the truth that God has sown in things and in the living”

The Vita-Salute University was founded in 1996 based on the experience of the San Raffaele hospital and since its beginning has been characterized by the integration of education with basic research and clinical activities. The University began with the Faculty of Psychology, before adding on the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in 1998, the Faculty of Philosophy in 2002 and a Degree Course in Sciences of Communication in 2005. The lessons relative to the Faculty of Philosophy are held in the Arese-Borromeo building that dates back to the 1600's in Cesano Maderno.
The educational project offered by the University is focused on man: the desire to know man as “unicum”, understand the relative biological, psychological, spiritual and social dynamics.
This is why the mission of the University is to find the answer to the question “Quid est homo?”.

THE SEARCH FOR MAN

The Vita-Salute University offers in-depth and complete education that requires constant commitment of the students. Its goal is to set up an excellent study plan and form high level professionals, capable of acing the challenges that result from the rapid transformation undergone by our society.
The faculties of Psychology, Medicine, Philosophy and the course in Communication Science offer the students a wide range of educational possibilities, from university courses to specializations.
The University also offers a qualified post-degree formation that includes 26 schools of specialization in the medical and psychological fields, the research doctorate school, permanent formation and masters degrees.
The cultural transverseness among the various faculties, the close collaboration with the Hospital departments, the Biotechnological research Center laboratories and the Cognitive Neuroscience laboratories, the limited number of students, 90 maximum, in order to assure excellent relations with the teaching staff, the modern structures and the international collaboration allow for high level education and formation to be offered.
The University also features a variety of cultural activities leading to continuous formation through meetings, seminars, lectures with prestigious and internationally well-known professors and speakers, in addition to constant interaction with the working world.

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Edited by Giovanna Stancanelli and Aldo Campana,