[The undergraduate program in forensic science: a national challenge].

The challenge in achieving an ideal state of justice is that each "proof" has the highest degree of reliability. This is the main responsibility of the forensic scientist. Up to now, criminal investigations in Mexico have been supported by forensic work from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds that give testimony in a particular area, even though they may have become forensic witnesses in a complementary and experiential manner.

[The role of educational institutions in the transformation of the Mexican health system].

The vocation of any medical school is educate the physicians that the country needs to address current and future health challenges, and able to work effectively in the gradual transformation of the health system of our country. The reason for the inclusion of this topic in this symposium is to ask whether this has been happening and if has been appropriate, and if so, to what extent medical education institutions establish actions and directions for the better and more quickly achieve the desired goal.

[Perspectives for the near future].

A rapid balance of these 75 years in which Medicine has contributed with medical students in Social Service to the National Health System, with positive results is presented here as a basis to discuss and reflect on the conditions and characteristics that should be present in the Social Service performed by medical students. Some changes to the conditions under which the Social Service is performed are necessary, as well as improving the medical services to enhance medical continuing education. The main problems to deal with are: redefining sites characteristics, the gradual creation of different alternatives, regionalization, and the creation of double-vacancies in marginal rural zones, among others.

[Medical education and health systems].

I was asked to develop in this symposium the topic of medical education and health systems. The analysis is relevant because the ultimate goal of medical schools is to train physicians to be useful for the current health system, regardless of the country and the health system organization in question. The interaction between the education system in health and National Health System has great importance to define the direction of medical education.

[The 2010 curriculum of the faculty of medicine at the National University of Mexico].

The 2010 undergraduate medical degree curriculum at the faculty of medicine of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) constitutes an important curricular reform of medical education in our country. It is the result of an institutional reflective process and academic dialog, which culminated in its approval by UNAM’s Academic Council for the Biology, Chemistry, and Health Sciences areas on February 2nd, 2010. Some distinguishing characteristics of the new academic curriculum are: organization by courses with a focus on outcome competencies; three curricular axes that link three knowledge areas; four educational phases with achievement profiles; new courses (biomedical informatics, basic-clinical and clinical-basic integration, among others); and core curriculum.

[Towards a new curriculum for the faculty of medicine of the National University of Mexico (UNAM)].

The 2010 undergraduate medical degree curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) is the result of eight years of collegiate work, which started under the leadership of Dr. Jose Narro Robles, our current Dean. In order to fulfill the aim of integrally developing a physician in the scientific, technical, social and human aspects, this academic plan considered the adaptations from a self-assessment test, the opinions expressed during academic workshops with professors from different disciplines, the work of committees and the results of external evaluations, as well as national and international health issues.

Teaching surgery at the UNAM and some educational concepts.

Nowadays surgery cannot be conceived as independent from medicine; consequently, surgical education cannot be far from the main principles of medical education. This review underlines the characteristics of medical training in the field of surgery. General physicians should be trained to perform surgical procedures under particular situations.

The resident-as-teacher educational challenge: a needs assessment survey at the National Autonomous University of Mexico Faculty of Medicine.

Background: The role of residents as educators is increasingly recognized, since it impacts residents, interns, medical students and other healthcare professionals. A widespread implementation of resident-as-teacher courses in developed countries' medical schools has occurred, with variable results. There is a dearth of information about this theme in developing countries.