This new Center is part of the Faculty of Engineering and Science of the Universidad de La Frontera. It will allow contributing to society, research and the development of new technological tools that will have an impact on people’s health.
The Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) has a new Center of Excellence since 2022 that combines the experience and complexity of different fields of knowledge.
The Center of Excellence in Medical Physics and Engineering (CFIS) is a new academic unit and part of the Faculty of Engineering and Science. It is an important space with a synergy between physics, engineering sciences and other experts and researchers in the field of health, to develop high-level research that leads to innovative solutions with a positive impact on the fields of medicine and health in general. At the same time, this collaborative work will contribute to the training of advanced human capital and lead to new national and international cooperation networks.
Dr. Rodolfo Figueroa Saavedra, an academic of the Department of Physical Sciences at UFRO and the manager of this new center, explained: “The Center of Excellence in Medical Physics and Engineering is the continuation of our research, which is in constant progress and which we started within the Center for Medical Physics and Engineering (CFIM). Part of this work was to develop medical applications, but as time went by, we realized that these applications also include other disciplines such as dentistry, public health, veterinary medicine, and so on. We felt that it was necessary to expand our network in order to cover the countless disciplines in the field of health.”
Apart from the intention of positioning themselves as national and international references, the scientists and researchers who will be part of this center will carry out applied research, mostly in cancer treatment, through the study and development of new methods of medical imaging, radiation therapy and theranostics, as well as in other fields of health, in which physics and engineering can lead to an improvement of people’s health. Another part of their work will be the development of different medical, dental and health devices in general, as well as applications of radiation therapy in animals and different services, such as radiological protection courses for UFRO employees, equipment calibrations, etc.
For this convergence of disciplines, experts of different faculties of the Universidad de La Frontera will be working together in this center, for example of the Faculty of Engineering and Science, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, and the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science.
This cross-cutting approach will strengthen one of the center's primary objectives, which is oriented towards the development of innovations for the benefit of the people and the development of the respective invention patent applications and the technological transfers that they entail.
“Part of our work as a faculty focuses on developing and promoting research of excellence, which has a positive impact on society. In this case, we are talking about the field of health, a very sensitive area that demands multidisciplinary efforts to respond to the different needs,” explained Dr. Jorge Farías Avendaño, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science.
Another long-awaited project, which is expected to take shape through the implementation of the Center of Excellence in Medical Physics and Engineering, is the creation of a doctoral program in the field of medical physics and engineering. That program would consolidate the line of research that Dr. Rodolfo Figueroa initiated 14 years ago with the creation of the Master’s Degree Program in Medical Physics and Engineering, which various researchers of different units of the Universidad de La Frontera support.
