UniSR: Graduate Schools beyond academic boundaries

A point of reference for academic excellence in our country, but also a place where research and teaching are intertwined for a single purpose: to understand and consider the human being as the indissoluble whole of body, mind and soul. In this context, at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, the story of Giulia Bonavina and of a mission that crosses geographical and cultural boundaries comes to life, reaching all the way to Sudan.

Giulia, now in her thirties, is a former student of UniSR's Graduate School in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, directed by Prof. Massimo Candiani. One of the 34 Graduate School offered at UniSR, created with the aim of preparing future professionals to face and touch the challenges of clinical practice. Schools, but above all multidisciplinary and concrete training experiences that, thanks to the close synergy with the San Raffaele Hospital, its advanced simulation laboratories, its Research Centres and its collaboration with Humanitarian Organisations, become valuable opportunities to put the skills learnt into practice in real-life contexts.

It is beyond the academic boundaries, indeed, that the experience, but also the project and the scientific depth of Giulia’s mission, goes. In 2021, during the fourth year of specialty, Giulia leaves for the first time for Sudan, thanks to the collaboration between UniSR and the Italian Association for Solidarity Among People (AISPO), directed by Prof. Fabio Ciceri. Here, at the Maternity Hospital in Port Sudan, in a country tried by conflicts, Giulia under the guidance of Prof. Candiani, conducts her mission and her study on the impact of genital mutilation on obstetric outcome. A prospective observational study on 500 patients, of which she is the first author, which shows how infibulation increases the risk of postpartum haemorrhage and therefore mortality, as well as having repercussions on quality of life and subsequent pregnancies.

In the middle of the mission, a coup by the Sudanese army puts an end to the humanitarian mission and Dr. Bonavina is forced to return to Italy, but the still image of women, victims of the brutality of war, lingers in her mind and becomes her goal as a researcher.

In February 2024, Giulia completed her second mission at the Port Sudan Hospital, where more than 1,000 deliveries a month are currently being performed. Also in 2024, she finalised and published a ‘Meta-analysis’ study conducted on more than 80,000 women, not only from African countries, but also from Europe and Asia.

The African state, however, with its women and their stories, remain indelible in Giulia, who today has a dream: to introduce laparoscopic gynaecological surgery in Sudan, together with AISPO, UniSR and a multi-centre surgical team.

The humanitarian mission, made possible thanks to the collaboration between Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and AISPO, represented a turning point in her career. A story of courage and dedication, now published in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet, which embodies the core values of UniSR. Giulia’s story is a tangible example of how the integration of research, teaching and social commitment can give rise to concrete actions that change the world.

As Dr. Bonavina herself pointed out:

This experience has deeply marked me as a doctor but also as a woman. I had the opportunity to put myself on the line in complex situations with very few resources available. Valuing the ethical and human aspect of our profession allows us to relieve and offer the best care to our patients. As I was taught: it is not enough to know and know how to do, but you must also know how to be and know how to become.

_{Cover: Courtesy of Dr. Giulia Bonavina.}