[A brief overview of the history of the Institute of Human Studies in Medicine at the First Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague].

Abstract

The Institute of Human Studies in Medicine (UHSL) was initiated at the First Medical Faculty of Charles University (1. LF UK) in Prague in 1989. At the beginning, the Institute drew upon the ideas and work of a number of medical professionals who were dealing with the issues of their discipline in a wider context. Thus, they created a foundation for current disciplines such as medical ethics, the philosophy of medicine, psychology, psychotherapy and others. These scholars included, for example: prof. Mihajlo Rostohar, prof. MUDr. Vladimír Vondrácek, prof. MUDr. Zdenek Myslivecek, doc. MUDr. Jaroslav Dobrý, CSc., doc. Nikolaj Jevgrafovic Osipov, prof. MUDr. Bohuslav Boucek, and prof. MUDr. Ferdinand Knobloch, CSc. UHSL was first listed in the Curriculum of the 1. LF UK (Karolinka) in the school year 1991-1992. In the following years, the Institute underwent rapid changes such as personnel structure, areas of specification, and educational programs. The structure of UHSL was divided into the following departments: the Department of Medical Ethics and Anthropology, the Department of Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, the Department of Public Health and Social Medicine, since the school year 1996-1997 the Department of Psychotherapy and Psychology and Psychotherapy Counselling Office. In 1998, UHSL was assigned the project "Goals of Medicine: Quality of Life", which required the participation of doctors, philosophers, psychologists, theologians, historians, mathematicians and others. The decisive factor for UHSL was the appointiment of the dean of the 1. LF UK on January 24, 2002, and thus establishing UHSL as a separate institution with its own organizational structure and fields of study. Later, UHSL was divided into two independent institutions: UHSL, and the Institute for Social Medicine and Public Health (USMVZ). The history of UHSL is documented by the facts about its directors, professors and doctors, visits of foreign specialists, international cooperation, study guidelines and library information, available to UHSL scholars.