Bukovina State Medical University, Chernivtsi

Faculty of Medicine No. 2

Department of Physiology

In 2010, our project leader Dimitrij Leporskij paid his first visit to the Bukovina State Medical University in Chernivtsi, in southwestern Ukraine, after the vice-rector responded to a letter he had sent. In the circular to numerous Ukrainian universities, we drew attention to the implementation of non-animal teaching materials. However, an agreement was not signed at that time.I

In September 2012, Prof Svitlana Tkachuk, head of the Department of Physiology, contacted us. She had heard about our project from her colleague Valentina Kurowska and Prof Alexey Shandra of the Odessa State Medical University, with whom we have been fruitfully collaborating for many years. Thanks to her genuine concern for animal welfare, Prof Tkachuk had already reduced most of the animal experiments in her course. For example, they work with students' blood samples. Other physiological phenomena, such as sensory physiology, can also be studied effectively through harmless self-experiments on students.

The agreement was signed in March 2013. We donated a laptop and several multimedia programs. This will save 1,540 frogs annually.

Medical students, Valentina Kurowska (2nd right) and Prof Svitlana Tkachuk (right) with the donated laptop and simulation programs.

Control visit

Dimitrij Leporskij visited on 2 March 2014, for a control visit. Professors Svitlana Tkachuk and Valentina Kurowska were very satisfied with the humane teaching materials. They are very informative and easy to use. Complex relations are presented much better than in textbooks. The students are enthusiastically involved. The professors particularly like the fact that some programs include quizzes. This allows students to get involved.