The Harvey Medicine and Surgery Course was founded October 1st, 2009 by professor Ermanno Gherardi, Head of the Department of Molecular Medicine.

It is a six-year, single-cycle Master’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery. The Harvey Course was thought “not just to teach the medical profession, but also to build a solid scientific basis for continued training that will be vital for the reception and understanding of future medicine”.

The Harvey Medicine and Surgery Course is the first medicine course entirely taught in English in Italy, together with several other MD programmes offered in English by the University of Pavia.

The Course was named after William Harvey (1578-1657), seventeenth-century British physician, a pioneer in correctly understanding and describing the circulatory system.

The Harvey Course arises from the need for an international (i.e. English language) medical school in Italy. The curriculum combines the long-established Italian teaching methods with the modern paradigms of interactive learning. Harvey trainees evolve into well-rounded doctors through a new wide-ranging programme of study and extensive practical training in the in the renown Pavia clinics and their research laboratories. This includes a rigorous and practical seminar programme provided by Harvey’s carefully selected local and international lecturers consisting of top-of-the-line clinicians, professors and scientists.

Application deadline:

Information on the application process for A.Y. 2025/2026 will be available in June 2025.

Programme structure:

The Harvey medical Course is structured in six years of studies: the first three years cover the pre-clinical raining period; the last three years mainly focus on clinical training, hospital rotations and internships in Italy or abroad, and final thesis preparation.

YEAR 1
• Basic Sciences (Chemistry and Medical Physics)
• Essay Writing Techniques
• Mathematics
• Living Molecules
• Scientific Foundation of Medicine (Epidemiology, History of Medicine, Statistics)
• Structure of The Body (Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, Cytology)
• Social Roots of Health
• Elective Courses: The Disabled Person / Ultrasound Laboratory

YEAR 2
• Functions of the Body (Physiology)
• Ethics and Society
• Biology of Disease (General Pathology, Immunology)
• Laboratory of Medicine
• Microbiology

YEAR 3
• Clinical Foundations (General Surgery, Semiotics, Radiology)
• Systemic Pathology
• Drug Discovery and Actions
• Disease Control and Eradication (Infectious Diseases, Clinical Epidemiology)
• Clinical Foundations Practicals
• Blood Diseases
• Disease of Endocrine System and Metabolism
• Elective Courses: Recision Medicine / The Disabled Patient / Nanotechnologies in Medicine / Evolution and Medicine

YEAR 4
• Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases
• Heart and Lungs
• Sensory System Diseases
• Soft Tissue Diseases
• Gi And Urinary Tracts
• Clinical Cases 4th Year

YEAR 5
• Childhood and Woman Health
• General Surgery I
• General Surgery Ii
• Clinical Pharmacology, Genetics and Pathology
• Clinical Cases 5th Year

YEAR 6
• Clinical Medicine (Family Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, Occupational Medicine)
• Students Presentation of Scientific Papers
• Practicals in Degree Thesis Subject
• Practical Evaluative Traineeship in General Practice

Career opportunities:

Pavia is a multi-faceted city offering a wide range of jobs and opportunities, either in health, technology or research. The University combines treatment and research in three leading hospitals: San Matteo, Fondazione Maugeri and Neurological Institute Mondino. 

Graduates from the Harvey Course may also participate in scientific, medical-related research projects from the wide variety proposed by the University of Pavia.