The journey of the Hippocratic spirit continues with the initiative of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute, under the auspices of the Athens Medical Association. A recent stop was the beautiful city of Pavia, Italy, 35 km outside Milan, where graduates of the University of Pavia, one of the oldest academic institutions in the world, took the Hippocratic Oath.

The Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute, was founded a view to exchanging opinions, developing scientific dialogue and know-how, to create a vital core of medical networking, continues with the collaboration of the Athens Medical Association, its journey around the world, uniting medical schools by country with Hippocratic medical philosophy and ethics.

This time it was the turn of the graduates of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pavia. In a amazing architecture and beauty theatre, the Teatro Fraschini, built between 1771 and 1773 by the architect Antonio Galli Bibiena and named after the famous tenor from Pavia Gaetano Fraschini, over 90 graduates of the Faculty of Medicine received their degrees in a modest ceremony and swore the Hippocratic Oath. This special evening where science, culture, history and peoples were powerfully present was attended by members of the academic and scientific community of Pavia.

The swearing in of the new doctors took place on Thursday 8 September 2022, at the theatre, Teatro Fraschini and began with a group of beautiful Italian women dressed as priestesses who accompanied Mr. Minas Hatzatziantoniou, who, dressed in ancient Greek as another Hippocrates, read the original Hippocratic Oath in exactly the same way, as it is done every year in the Asclepion of Kos, which was launched for the first time in Europe, on the initiative of the Governor of Attica and President of the Athens Medical Association.

Subsequently, the President of the Athens Medical Association and President of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute Dr. George Patoulis and the President of the Medical Association of Pavia Dr. Claudio Lisi, with his colleagues, awarded the degrees together with a Papyrus with the Hippocratic Oath, to all the young doctors, in an extremely, moving atmosphere, for a future full of expectations and dreams for young scientists.

The President of the Medical Association of Pavia Claudio Lisi, who embraced from the beginning the idea - proposal of the Regional Governor of Attica, President of the Medical Association of Athens and President of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute Dr. George Patoulis, declared excited about the whole project.

The bust of Hippocrates was then unveiled by the Regional Governor, President of the Athens Medical Association and President of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute Dr. Georgos Patoulis, the President of the Medical Association of Pavia Dr. Claudio Lisi, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pavia Professor Marco Benazzo and the representative of the International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos, Dr. Antonios Polydorou.

The Governor of Attica, President of the Athens Medical Association and President of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute, George Patoulis in his speech noted "From education you are now moving to diagnosis and treatment. But medicine is a continuation of learning and knowledge, because science has no end. The coronovirus pandemic, which took the lives of many of our fellow human beings, was a great example. This means that there is always room to learn about people and how we can help them to have a good life. He added that ever since he swore Hippocratic Oath he discovered that the life of a doctor can be difficult but it can also be interesting. To be able to save human lives, or to maintain health in a human being is extremely important. "Anyone who does not love people cannot become a doctor," Patoulis stressed, adding that medicine must imperatively go hand in hand with morality. Hippocrates the father of medicine and ethics also contributes to this.

The event was attended by Dr. Antonios Polydorou, Secretary General of GDHI, representative of the International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos and ambassador of Greek Tourism, A' Vice President Dr. Konstantinos Pantos and B' Vice President Dr. Konstantinos Kouskoukis of the Global Doctors’ Hippocratic Institute , the Mayor of Pavia, the Dean of the Medical School Marco Benazzo, the Honorary Consul of Milan Mr. Sakkaris, the President of the Greek community in Pavia George Bakagias and members of the Greek community.

It is worth mentioning that earlier all the guests, had the opportunity to be hosted inside the historic University of Pavia, where they visited its amazing library, as well as, the magnificent Museum of Anatomy, in which it exists the head of the "patriarch" of anatomy, Professor Antonio Scarpa, which was cut off by his students, from their great love to preserve it, in formalin.

Finally, the whole delegation visited the wonderful Botanical Garden of the city where the planting of the Hippocrates' plane tree took place with the aim, as Mr Patoulis said, to make it gigantic and under its shade in the future, to read the Hippocratic Oath. It is worth noting that for 40 years in Pavia, live about 300 Greeks, 69 of them are doctors, registered in the medical association of Pavia.

The University of Pavia was founded in 825 as a "School of Law, Rhetoric and Liberal Arts" by King Lothair I and in 1361 it was officially established as "Universitas Studiorum" by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charles IV. Thanks to the reforms implemented in the 18th century by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II, the University of Pavia became one of the leading universities in Europe, having an impressive number of famous alumni, renowned academics and Nobel prizes. Today, the University of Pavia is based on internationalization participating in agreements with prestigious institutions worldwide, an advanced Research University which promotes innovative interdisciplinary projects and a work-oriented University, creating strong networks and strong business opportunities.