The Rector of G.E. Palade UMPhST of Targu Mures, Prof. Leonard Azamfirei, MD, PhD, took part in Santa Maria Innovation Days 2026 in Lisbon, an event organised by ULS Santa Maria – Unidade Local de Saúde Santa Maria on the campus of Hospital de Santa Maria – Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa.

Held in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine, the event focused on the theme “From Innovation to Implementation: Scaling Health Impact”. As International Keynote Speaker, Prof. Leonard Azamfirei delivered the lecture “The University Smart Hospital Concept: From the Vision to the Reality”, in which he presented the University Smart Hospital concept based on the model developed at UMPhST through the “George Emil Palade” University Clinical Hospital.

The event was attended by Ana Paula Martins, Minister of Health of Portugal; Gonçalo Matias, Minister for State Reform; Manuel Dias, Chief Technology Officer of the State and President of ARTE – Agência para a Reforma Tecnológica do Estado; Luís Goes Pinheiro, President of SPMS – Serviços Partilhados do Ministério da Saúde; Carlos das Neves Martins, Chair of the Board of Directors of ULS Santa Maria; and Daniela Gîtman, Ambassador of Romania to the Portuguese Republic. ULS Santa Maria is part of the SNS – Serviço Nacional de Saúde, the Portuguese public health system.

The discussions focused on the digital transformation of healthcare, interoperability and the implementation of the EHDS – European Health Data Space, in the context of moving from innovation projects to solutions that can be effectively integrated into clinical practice.