[The Universidad Austral de Chile Medical School: a regional commitment]

The Universidad Austral de Chile Medical School was created in 1966. Its general goal was to train a general physician with capacities to integrate biological, psychological and social issues, to deal with prevalent diseases as well as with the non referable casualties, to analyze health situations and to manage health teams. From its beginning, it incorporated anthropological and the public health contents to medical curriculum. Moreover, the formal teaching formation was reduced to 5 years, increasing the internship cycle to 2 years, with an important practice on primary health care in regional hospitals, that included a research project on health administration. A revision of the School curriculum showed the need of a better horizontal and vertical integration of medical education. Consequently, global courses were organized to gather knowledge that, until now, was delivered in a fragmented form. Our Medical School has a major impact in the southern region of the country and over 60% of its graduates have settled in this zone, improving its physician/inhabitant relationship and the number of specialists.