The Official Inauguration Meeting of the INPACT Project Was Held with the Presence of Representatives of Iranian and European Members Participating in the project

This project was formally started on Wednesday, November 18th, 2020 as one of the EU programs with the focus on the TUMS School of Public Health, the National Institute for Health Research and Kerman University of Medical Sciences and the participation of Maastricht University of the Netherlands, Heidelberg University of Germany and Tampere University of Finland.

This two-day kick off meeting was attended by the representatives of partner European universities, the EU representative, the Iranian Educational Deputy of Minister of Health, TUMS Vice Chancellor for International Affairs and his administrators, Vice Chancellor for International Affairs of Kerman University of Medical Sciences and the President of the National Institute for Health Research.

At the beginning of the kick off meeting, Dr. Takian, the Vice Dean of International Affairs at TUMS School of Public Health and the Project Manager of INPACT, along with Dr. Remco Van De Pas from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands fully introduced the INPACT project.

Then Dr. Ali Akbar Haghdoost, the Educational Deputy of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Kazem Nadafi, Dean of the TUMS School of Public Health, Dr. Ramin Kordi, TUMS Vice Chancellor for Global Strategies and International Affairs, Dr. Ali Akbari Sari, President of the National Institute for Health Research, Dr. Anja Krumeich from Maastricht University and Dr. Baqer Amir Heidari , Vice Chancellor for International Affairs of Kerman University of Medical Sciences emphasized on the importance of this project based on the global health situation in the region, the number of migrants, the epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable diseases, the global COVID-19 epidemic and its problems and the lack of an approved global health educational course in the region.

Then, Dr. Kordi, the TUMS Vice Chancellor for International Affairs gave a brief introduction about TUMS and its educational, research and the patient care capacities. Also, Mr. Franco Burgio, the EU Commissioner, while supporting the INPACT project, explained the reasons for accepting the joint consortium of the TUMS School of Public Health, the National Institute for Health Research, Kerman University of Medical Sciences and the universities of Maastricht, Heidelberg, and Tempere.

Mr. Burgio congratulated TUMS and other members of the consortium for winning this highly competitive grant. While referring to the history of cooperation between the European Union and TUMS in various projects, he acknowledged the success of the experiences gained in this direction.

Subsequently, Dr. Nekoofar, the TUMS Director of International Relations, described some of the university's experiences in implementing EU-sponsored projects and outlined the university's strengths that have paved the way for the successful implementation of these projects.

In the final part, a video clip called 'Ladder', made by TUMS with the theme of the history of global health from three thousand years ago to now was shown.

It is worth mentioning that Universities and centers participating in the INPACT project have been cooperating using a grant from the European Union for a period of three years, and their agenda is designing a Global Health Master's Degree in TUMS to address the issues of the North Africa, West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, as well as establishing a Center for Excellence in Global Health Education at the School of Public Health with the aim of facilitating scientific communication between Iranian and world scientists.

The kick off meeting of this project continued virtually