The Academic University Center – University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), is one of the foremost research institutions in the Netherlands, as well as oe of its largest hospitals. The AMC complex houses the university hospital, and the faculty of medicine of UvA as well as the Emma Children’s hospital, the Netherlands Institute of Neuroimaging, the medical department of the Royal Tropical Institute and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development. A number of biotech companies (some of which are AMC spin-offs) are also located on the premises. This concentration of expertise makes the centre a breeding ground for fruitful scientific collaboration.
AMC has 45 clinical and non-clinical departments. The hospital houses all the medical specializations that are recognized in the Netherlands. It also provides outstanding patient services of all kinds, including a high percentage of highquality referral care. About 26,000 patients are admitted to AMC wards each year, whilst the outpatient clinics see around 350,000 people annually. Day care – an intermediate form of care – is becoming increasingly popular: about 30,000 patients a year receive such care. AMC is one of the Netherlands’ eleven trauma centres.
Some 1500 members of staff are either fully or partially employed in medical research, which is regularly subjected to scrutiny by a panel of international scientists. Many of the departments and research groups at AMC work closely with leading foreign institutions, for example, Oxford and Harvard and the Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. A lot of AMC students also complete part of their training as researchers or specialists abroad; the most popular destination is the United States. Collaboration frequently concerns Africa and Asia. Many projects are carried out by the department of Tropical Medicine – the only department of its kind in the Netherlands.
AMC provides modern, patient-oriented teaching for 2300 medical students, 120 medical informatics students, and hundreds of trainee nurses, paramedics and other students. All recognized specializations – including occupational health and general practice – are taught at AMC. The AMC Graduate School for Medical Sciences provides support for 1400 PhD students from all over the world. AMC also attracts outstanding, internationally recognized scientists at the postdoctoral level. Those who are seeking to set up a research group can apply for an AMC Fellowship. In addition, postdoc positions for outstanding young researchers are awarded each year.
