Plenary Session 2: Evidence in oral health professions education

Welcome to our second plenary session at ADEE 2026 Budapest where we focus on evidence. We are deligheted to welcome Prof Péter Hegyi who presents 'TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE: FROM SCIENCE TO SOCIETY'. 

The foundation of translational medicine lies in the ability to translate scientific discoveries into real-world applications. This challenge is equally important in medicine and dentistry, where rapid advances in areas such as biomaterials, regenerative therapies, oral cancer prevention, digital dentistry, and artificial intelligence are transforming patient care. Despite continuous healthcare advancements, EUROSTAT data reveal that 1.7 million people die annually in Europe, with approximately 1.2 million of these deaths being preventable through better primary prevention, earlier diagnosis, and more effective implementation of evidence-based healthcare. A major barrier to achieving sustainable improvements remains the gap between research and everyday clinical practice, which is largely rooted in outdated educational models in medicine, dentistry, and biomedical sciences ⁽¹⁾.

Academia Europaea has introduced a translational cycle model to facilitate the effective integration of scientific knowledge into healthcare ⁽²⁾. This model emphasizes the need for a balanced educational approach that promotes innovation while ensuring that future physicians and dentists are able to critically evaluate and rapidly implement new scientific evidence. However, current healthcare education still focuses predominantly on theoretical knowledge and clinical skills, providing relatively limited training in research methodology, evidence appraisal, and the translation of scientific discoveries into patient care. Likewise, traditional research training often lacks sufficient exposure to clinical problems, slowing the implementation of innovations into routine healthcare.

To address this challenge, we have developed a hybrid PhD/healthcare Translational Medicine programme that enables students to engage simultaneously in scientific research and clinical practice. Through a "learning by doing" and "retaining by teaching" approach, participants acquire essential competencies in critical appraisal, scientific communication, clinical research methodology, and interdisciplinary collaboration. These skills are particularly valuable in rapidly evolving fields such as dentistry, where clinicians are increasingly expected to integrate emerging technologies and evidence into daily practice. Our programme aims not only to produce high-quality researchers but also to educate clinician-scientists capable of accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries into better patient outcomes ^(3,4). At the Semmelweis University Faculty of Dentistry, the implementation of the Translational Medicine programme resulted in a doubling of the number of PhD students and scientific output within just 4.5 years. These results demonstrate that modernizing research education can strengthen not only individual careers but also the scientific competitiveness and international visibility of an entire faculty.

(1) Hegyi P, Erőss B, Izbéki F, Párniczky A, Szentesi A. Accelerating the translational medicine cycle: the Academia Europaea pilot. Nat Med. 2021 Aug;27(8):1317-1319. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01458-8. PMID: 34312557.

(2) Hegyi P, Petersen OH, Holgate S, Erőss B, Garami A, Szakács Z, Dobszai D, Balaskó M, Kemény L, Peng S, Monteiro J, Varró A, Lamont T, Laurence J, Gray Z, Pickles A, FitzGerald GA, Griffiths CEM, Jassem J, Rusakov DA, Verkhratsky A, Szentesi A. Academia Europaea Position Paper on Translational Medicine: The Cycle Model for Translating Scientific Results into Community Benefits. J Clin Med. 2020 May 19;9(5):1532. doi: 10.3390/jcm9051532. PMID: 32438747; PMCID: PMC7290380.

(3) Hegyi P, Varró A. Systems education can train the next generation of scientists and clinicians. Nat Med. 2024 Dec;30(12):3399-3400. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03315-w. PMID: 39420217.

(4) Hegyi P, Garami A; Academia Europaea Translational Medicine Working Group. Academia Europaea's guidelines for the visualization of clinical outcomes. Nat Med. 2025 Oct 14. doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-03992-1. PMID: 41087565.