About Panacea

For some of us, studentlife is only about lectures, tutor groups and study books. However, students who look more closely will notice that you can gain a lot more from your study years than just a diploma! Panacea gives you the opportunity to relax and make social contacts. Next to that, our association allows you to develop your interests and to orient outside your own working area…

M.F.V. Panacea
The Medical Faculty Association Panacea was founded in 1987 and looks after the interests of the medical students in Groningen. Anyone who studies medicine in Groningen can become a member of the M.F.A. Panacea. The association, which is named after the Greek goddess of remedy, is currently seated in the basement of the faculty building.

Study association
As can be concluded from the paragraph above, Panacea is a faculty- or study association. On one hand she looks after the students’ interests by, among other things, evaluating the curriculum and conversing with the faculty and the teachers, but on the other hand she tries to give something extra by organising all different kinds of activities. 

Hence Panacea is definitely not a student association. This means that you can become a member of faculty association Panacea and a student association at the same time.

Activities
Panacea organises many different activities. The annual introduction for all first year students which is organised by the Panacea Introduction Committee (PanIC) is probably the first activity which you will experience, but definitely not the last!

Besides the introduction, Panacea has many gatherings and parties (such as the October Revolution party), a prom and many other activities. These activities aren’t only in the field of sports and games (such as paintball, the Gotcha-games and the Batavierenrace), but also in the cultural field (such as a musical and a cookingworkshop). When you like to travel, we provide a foreign trip, a ski trip or a sailingweekend and if you want to do good, we organise a benefit. Finally, Panacea has activities in the field of education which give the opportunity to get to know more about medicine. You can participate in an First Aid course, come to the Medical Career Day and learn more about a certain medical subject at the Symposium.

The advantages
A membership of Panacea offers you many advantages, such as:

  • A discount on books and instruments, such as stethoscopes and reflex hammers
  • Reduced or free entrance to all activities organised by Panacea
  • Usage of facilities at Panacea, such as computers, printers and the copyingmachine
  • The opportunity to become active together with your fellow students, in a committee, workinggroup or year representation
  • Social contacts, fantastic experiences and a lot of fun!
How do you become a member of Panacea?
When you start studying medicine in Groningen, you automatically get send information about M.F.V. Panacea in which is stated how you can become a member and which advantages are associated with a membership.

To become a member of Panacea, you have to pay a contribution of €75,- once. This membership accounts for all six study years, which essentially means you only pay €12,50 a year. You can also become a member if you enrolled via the side-entrance. You pay €50,- once for your following four study years.

Because a Panacea membership allows you to get a discount on your studybooks, you will already save an amount of money in your first year which exceeds your contribution largely.

How is Panacea set up?
Like every association, M.F.V. Panacea is being led by a board. This board consists of seven different members with each a specific function.

The daily board (DB) consists of the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer. They take care of the general matters and the association’s coordination. All the other tasks are the responsibility of one of the four Commissioners. The Internal Commissioner is responsible for internal matters and coordination of committees. The External Commissioner keeps in contact with the external relations (such as sponsors) and the Educational Commissioner looks after evaluation of and different developments in the curriculum. Lastly, the Master and Career Commissioner keeps busy with the masterstudents and committees.

The board coordinates and supervises the committees and year representations, but is in turn observed by the supervisory board and cash audit commission. In addition, the board has to be accountable to the General Members’ Meeting (GMM). This GMM is being held twice a year and is accessible for all members of M.F.V. Panacea. During this GMM, the boardmembers give a summary of their activities, the members are notified of the association’s developments and the members get the opportunity to give their opinion on these subjects.