Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA) successfully organized and hosted the international scientific conference “Medicine: Innovations and Challenges 2025 (MEDIC 2025)”, which brought together leading experts from European and U.S. medical universities and organisations to explore how education, research, digital transformation, and societal engagement are shaping the future of healthcare. The three-day hybrid event featured keynote lectures, scientific presentations, thematic panel discussions, and interactive workshops, strengthening international knowledge exchange and demonstrating TMA’s active integration in European academic and research networks.

During MEDIC 2025, the thematic panels focused on three core priorities for future-ready medical practice and education:

• Innovation, Education and Digital Transformation — emerging technologies, ethical integration of AI, and human-centered competencies in medical education.
• Science with and for Society — public engagement, knowledge valorisation, and the role of research in strengthening community health.
• Doctoral Education — transformation of PhD training under EUA-CDE and CoARA principles, responsible research assessment, and linkage between research, innovation and clinical needs.

Throughout the programme, speakers presented state-of-the-art insights into research excellence, open science, health literacy, and interdisciplinarity, while emphasizing that modern healthcare requires a balance of advanced technology and strong professional identity, communication, and patient-centered values.

Scientific contributions showcased progress in oncology, epidemiology, artificial intelligence in diagnostics, health system resilience, One Health, and biomedical innovation. Students and young researchers participated actively, presenting research and public-health projects, joining panel discussions, and engaging in creative and simulation-based workshops designed to foster clinical reasoning, teamwork, and responsible digital practice. A dedicated session enabled doctoral candidates and young researchers to connect with potential supervisors and explore future research pathways.

Hands-on workshops enriched the programme with practical capacity-building, including training in explainable AI, research proposal development, medical data analysis, and innovative doctoral supervision. Creative and interactive formats — such as the “Escape Room – Elsevier at TMA” — provided engaging opportunities to strengthen academic integrity, literature-search skills, and teamwork.

The conference also included a formal recognition ceremony, where Professor Andreas Kaufmann (Charité) was awarded the honorary title of Professor of TMA, acknowledging his longstanding leadership and collaboration in biomedical and educational advancement.

MEDIC 2025 reaffirmed TMA’s mission to cultivate innovative, responsible, and socially accountable healthcare professionals. The event strengthened academic partnerships and set a strong foundation for future initiatives that align Georgian medical education and research with European excellence frameworks. The outcomes of the conference will continue to inspire transformation in medical training and reinforce the connection between science, education, healthcare, and society.