Michel Tsimaratos Interview
Professor of medicine, specialist in nephrology and paediatrics, Secretary General of the Medical Board, Professor Michel Tsimaratos is world-renowned for his university hospital work.
As a university hospital doctor and with his in-depth knowledge of the health sector, public hospitals, its figures and how it works, he handles and leads several projects aiming to significantly change healthcare services in the Marseille area. He famously led the “Marseille Health 2020” brand project.
He explains why Marseille’s CHU (university hospital) is a major asset for the area.
How is Marseille’s CHU an asset for our city?
The AP-HM is Marseille’s university hospital. It’s a world-renowned centre training the doctors of the future. It takes part in clinical research which pushes medicine forwards and takes care of the population’s health no matter how complex the illness. Its versatility is down to the expertise and day-to-day commitment of the CHU’s medical staff who work closely with Aix-Marseille University and the Medicine Faculty.
The Marseille area has one of the biggest talent bases. Men and women make progress in healthcare on a daily basis. Prime examples of its professionals’ talent are major advances in the field such as chronic disease, rare disease or risk of contagion.
Just like the “Club-M Ambassadors” which showcase the region, the medical community showcases the exceptional quality of the university hospital’s medical/scientific sector through the “Marseille Health 2020” project in relation to the business world. Health is good for the city!
What do you think the CHU represents for the area?
The CHU represents human values and upholds social cohesion. The medical community wants to do its utmost for our hospitals to better meet the population’s needs. The CHU must make progress in respecting its core values: treating, teaching and researching alongside the University.
The area’s appeal is very topical, how can Marseille’s CHU boost it?
An online campaign isn’t enough to showcase excellence. We have to act!
Figures are voted in whilst structures and organisations are criticised. For healthcare to boost the area’s appeal, the CHU must open up to the business world to update the managerial model, change mind-sets and find new solutions…
Improving services and terms, simplifying procedures and making contact easier as well as making access to medical innovations simpler. This change in model will give people confidence and speed up our growth to benefit families, patients, agents, in other terms, our entire region’s population.
Can you base the development of an entire sector on a resource that’s suffering?
Marseille’s CHU may be a renowned leader in the health sector but social security’s health department is trapped in a vicious circle and cannot support a marketing policy.
That said, there are ways to expand the health department. Our expertise in research and innovation is an asset for the area. It ensures every part of the health sector stays on top form.
Let’s break down barriers together so Marseille becomes the Mediterranean health capital. Like other figures in the business world, we want how people see our area to change and enable patients from other countries to benefit from the health sector’s expertise at the same time as boosting our economy. Several international projects such as the Méditerranée Infection University Hospital Institute or GITPTIS Institute (Genetics institute for patients, therapies, innovation and science) have made the first step and embody this vision.