PAN University Groups
Our international network of medical students
Host a plant-based event. We'll pay for the food.
Are you...
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a medical student?
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passionate about plant-based food?
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interested in promoting planetary health?
Check out this mini-grant to cover food-related costs.*
*Terms and conditions apply
About PAN University Groups
Medical students can have a real impact on the future of healthcare. Therefore, we think it’s vital that medical students are given the opportunity to increase their knowledge about nutrition and how to implement it effectively in patient care. Many students are already motivated and eager to learn about nutrition. The international community created through the PAN University Groups network meets this demand and empowers students to take their nutrition education into their own hands.
The goal of PAN University Groups is to bridge that knowledge gap and enable medical students to organise and take part in numerous activities and projects on a local, national and international level to make nutrition a central part of university curricula and every medical students’ professional toolkit.
Existing Groups
University Groups in Germany
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Aachen
Berlin
Bonn
Düsseldorf
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Freiburg
Contact:
Göttingen
Hannover
Contact:
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Jena
Leipzig
Magdeburg
Contact:
Mannheim
München (Munich)
Ludwig Maximilians Universität
Contact:
Technische Universität
Contact:
FIRST CLOSED
Regensburg
Tübingen
Contact:
Ulm
Würzburg
Contact:
University Groups in Austria
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Graz
Contact:
FIRST CLOSED
University Groups in Israel
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Ben-Gurion University
University Groups in South Africa
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Cape Town
Contact:
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Stellenbosch
Contact:
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Pretoria
Contact:
International Community Coordinator
Inspired to join or start your own local group?
Our Community Coordinator, Salvatore, is available to give you more information about getting involved and how you can join an existing local group or start your own.
PAN University Groups are already very well established in medical schools across Germany so take a look at our list of active groups above to see if your university is already represented. Feel free to reach out to the local groups directly or get in touch with the community coordinator who can answer any questions you may have.
We welcome students and faculty members from medical schools around the world to join our growing international PAN University Group community. Please feel free to send us an email and the team will gladly support you in answering all questions.
Join the @pan_university community on Instagram (in German) for additional content, news and updates from PAN University Groups.
Iss Das! – Nutrition as Medicine Webinar Series
Iss Das! (Eat That!) is a unique educational webinar series organised almost exclusively by student volunteers from the PAN University Groups. This series has been a huge success in Germany so far attracting thousands of medical students to take part.
It brings together renowned experts from diverse specialities of medicine and nutritional science in a series of online talks that have taken place across 4 seasons to date. Topics cover various medical specialities include nutritional medicine in cardiology, food and the climate crisis, gastroenterology and the microbiome, and culinary medicine.
Watch the webinar recordings from seasons 1 – 5.
Recordings of the majority of the webinars from all completed seasons of Iss Das! are available to PAN Members (student discount available) along with a number of other resources. Click the button below for more information on how to become a member.
More about Iss Das!
Season 1 established the format and took place at the University of Cologne in the summer semester of 2020.
Season 2 was the largest-ever curriculum initiative for nutritional medicine in Germany and took place between November 2020 and January 2021. The opening event on Thursday 5 November was to a sold-out crowd of 2,500 attendees. Medical students across Germany made up 87% of the total attendees for the 11-part series. The series also made history as the first CME-accredited ‘nutrition as medicine’ webinar series and was also officially an elective at 4 medical schools including Cologne and Munich (LMU).
Season 3 took place between April and June 2021. Season 3 included two Culinary Medicine events – the largest events of their kind to date worldwide (as far as we are aware). It was also CME-certified and an official elective at 7 German universities.
Season 4 took place in the summer semester of 2022.
Season 5 was held in the summer semester of 2023.
Recordings of the events from all seasons of Iss Das! are available to PAN Members in our webinar recordings library. Students get a great membership discount which includes many educational resources so you can boost your nutrition knowledge. Find out about student membership here.
PAN University Groups Journal Club
We organise a virtual Journal Club every third Monday of the month at 7 pm. Please note that these events are currently only in German.
Each month a different University Group is responsible for presenting a nutritional study which we then discuss as a group.
This is where interested people can come together and participate in an evidence-based exchange. There are no performance requirements or grades, just a space to learn together and grow our shared knowledge about nutritional medicine topics.
We offer a clear structure and provide the necessary materials, so no previous experience or preparation is needed.
Would you like to join us or present something yourself? Then contact your local University Group or write to university@pan-int.org.
Projects and Activities
There are many different projects and activities that the groups are involved in at a local, regional and international level to spread nutrition knowledge amongst their peers, transform regional and national food systems, and enhance scientific understanding and exchange.
Some examples of activities include:
- Establishing student groups in their medical schools
- Getting together for journal clubs or local social events (cooking evenings, movie nights)
- Hosting and organising webinar series and other (virtual) educational events such as “Iss Das!”
- Establishing PAN educational projects as electives
- Spreading the word about PAN’s mission on campus (and on social media)
- Promoting PAN Academy: our online education platform aimed at students
- Promoting PAN events, resources and activities in the student network
- Getting plant-based nutrition in university hospitals and cafeterias
- Campaigning for healthy hospital food. See INGE for more information.
- Getting involved in PAN’s growing international network of students, physicians and scientists.
Making better physicians
Ready to improve your nutrition knowledge?
Sign up for the PAN Academy and take our free online courses on nutrition science.
Mini Modules on Diet-Related Diseases
This series of short modules addresses common diet-related diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Learn the causes and which patients are at risk, and find out practical solutions to managing these diseases through whole food, plant-based eating.
Making better physicians
Ready to improve your nutrition knowledge?
Sign up to the PAN Academy and take our free online courses on nutrition science.
Mini Modules on Diet-Related Diseases
This series of short modules addresses common diet-related diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Learn the causes and which patients are at risk, and find out practical solutions to managing these diseases through whole food, plant-based eating.
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