School of Medicine

Short History

The University of Athens, the first University in Greece after independence, was founded in 1837. Initially named “Othonian University”, after Greece’s first King Othon, it included 4 academic units Theology, Law, Philosophy and Medicine. Four years prior to that, medical education was conducted at the “Ιατροσυνέδριο” (“Medical Congress”), while in 1835 the “Theoretical and Practical Surgery and Pharmaceutical Teaching Workshop of the Medical School” was founded. The University was initially established in Plaka, at a neoclassical residence, house of the renowned architect S. Kleanthis and in 1841 it was transferred to the Central Building of the University of Athens, which was designed by Theophilus Hansen and decorated by the Viennese painter Karl Rahl. In 1932 the University was officially named National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in honor of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of modern Greece.

Initially Medicine was a three-year course, in 1842 it was extended to four years and in 1911 to five years.  At that time the Schools of Dentistry and of Pharmacy were incorporated in the Medical School. The curriculum of the School of Medicine extended to 6 years in 1922.

In 1984, with the presidential decree 160/12.4.1984, the School of Health Sciences was established, including the following four (4) Departments:

- Department of Medicine (School of Medicine),

- Department of Dentistry,

- Department of Pharmacy and

- Department of Nursing.

Studying Medicine

Since 1837, when the School of Medicine first operated with only 4 students, the number of candidates was always increasing, leading in 1926 to the establishment of an entrance exam.

Currently, there are approximately 4,000 students enrolled at the School of Medicine of the NKUA. There are also more that 500 Faculty members (DEP), scientific and teaching staff (EDIP), special technical and laboratory staff (ETEP), as well as administrative and technical staff employed by the School of Medicine.

The School of Medicine includes the following six (6) sections :

- Section of Basic Medical Sciences,

- Section of Clinical-Laboratory Studies,

- Section of Internal Medicine,

- Section of Surgery,

- Section of Mother’s-Child’s Health,

- Section of Social Medicine -Psychiatry -Neurology.

The School of Medicine is offering to the students a 6 year course. The core courses of the first 3 years of studies are being taught mainly at the buildings of the Goudi Campus, initially donated to the NKUA by the Petraki Monastery in 1905 for the establishment of the Medical School and the “Laiko” Hospital.

The Departments of Anatomy, Biochemistry, Biology, Forensic Medicine-Toxicology, Histology and Embryology, Hygiene– Epidemiology, Medical Physics, Microbiology, Pathology, Pathophysiology, Pharmacology and Physiology are all housed there.

For clinical training, students practice in sixteen (16) hospitals, including "Agia Olga", "Agia Sophia", "Aiginiteio", "Alexandra", “Attikon”, "Aretaion", "Evaggelismos", "Evgenideio", "G. Gennimatas", "Hippocration",  "K.A.T.", "P. and A. Kyriakou", "Laiko", "Sismanoglio ", “Sotiria” and "A. Syggros".