The signing ceremony took place in downtown Amsterdam, in a fitting location overflowing with Dutch medical history: the 17th century Anatomy Theater in a traditional weighing house called De Waag. This enabled both Amsterdam university medical centers to further develop their core business together: complex patient care, scientific research, and education & training.

Patient care

The thinking behind the merger is that Amsterdam UMC attained an even higher quality of patient care for present and future generations. This is achieved by clustering specific patient groups in one of the two locations. This enabled Amsterdam UMC to safeguard sustainable access to complex patient care.

Scientific research

Amsterdam UMC is home to eight integrated research institutes. By joining forces, these research institutes organized their scientific research more efficiently and became a more attractive partner for large-scale, international and multi-year study all over the world. This was an interesting development for students and researchers, both within and outside the country.

Education & Training

The separate medical degree courses co-exist as they are linked to Amsterdam’s two universities: the University of Amsterdam and the VU Amsterdam. The three-year bachelor programs remain totally separate. The master programs for student interns – the junior doctor phase – are adapted because medical specializations are concentrated at one of the two locations.