The project NCF/53/13-813/15 with the title - Symposium "For Integration of Healthcare and University Components of Palliative Care - Medical Services, Education and Research" won the conference grant competition in 2015. The Project was headed by Professor Dimitri Kordzaia from Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Alexander Natishvili Institute of Morphology.

The symposium was held in the Conference Hall of the hotel "Primavera" (13^th November 2015) and in the auditorium N. 107 of Tbilisi State University (14^th and 15^th November 2015).

The following international experts have participated in the symposium:

Stein Kaasa, Professor, MD, PhD, Director of the European Palliative Care Research Centre (Trondheim,  Norway), Chair of the European Association for Palliative Care Research Network;

Julia Verne, Professor, BSc, MBBS, MSc. PhD, FFPH, Head of Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical Lead National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, Public Health, England;

Daniela Mosoiu, Associate Professor, MD, PhD, President of Palliative Care Advisory Commission of the Health Ministry Romania, Board Member of the European Association of Palliative Care, Romania;

Katalin Muszbek, MD, Medical Director, Hungarian Hospice Foundation; Vice-president of Eastern European Palliative Task Force, Hungary

Anda Jansone, MD, Director of Children’s Palliative Care Department at Children’s University Hospital, Riga; Chair of the Board,  Children’s Palliative Care Society, Latvia

The invited experts were received by the Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs (LHSA) of Georgia, Mr. Zaza Sopromadze.

The symposium aimed supporting institutional development of the healthcare system for the patients with chronic incurable diseases in accordance to international standards through the integration of healthcare and university components (healthcare, education, research) of the palliative care in Georgia.

The symposium covered the following:

• For the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, as well as for the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, there were elaborated recommendations for the further development of the system of palliative care in Georgia with the participation of Georgian and foreign experts;
• The memorandum was signed, concerning the establishment of “International Master Program in Palliative Care” at the faculty of medicine, TSU.
• The symposium recommendations to the University, reflected the decisions related to the opportunities and mechanisms for the involvement of academic staff and students in such international multicenter studies, based on the results of which, clinical and organizational standards of the palliative care are developed/updated;
• It was recommended to establish the palliative medicine/care section in the newly founded TSU journal "Translational and Clinical Medicine” and Clinical Medicine", to include the participants of the symposium in the scientific council of the journal and to sign the memorandum with them for the cooperation in reviewing and selecting the received profiled articles.

About 100 participants took part in the work of the in the conference part of the symposium, including the representatives of the Committee of Healthcare and Social Affairs of the Parliament of Georgia, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, TSU administration and the academic staff and students of TSU faculties of Medicine, Psychology and Humanitarian sciences, Georgian Medical Association, GNAPC, Open Society Georgia Foundation, SOCO Foundation and other organizations. The invited professors (guest speakers) and Georgian experts participated in the work of round tables and elaboration of the recommendations.

At the symposium, the Director of the European Palliative Care Research Centre (Trondheim, Norway), Prof. Stein Kaasa was awarded with the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of TSU.