Course location

About the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center of Jesús Usón (a.k.a. CCMIJU)

The CCMIJU is a large facility located in the city of Cáceres, region of Extremadura, in Spain, approximately 300km from Madrid Airport. The Center focuses on the instruction of microsurgical skills. There are several, large operating rooms, each dedicated to a specific subject, from fluoroscopy, to laparoscopy and, of course, ophthalmology. The ophthalmic theater is a large room with 15 teaching stations, each with its own table mounted operating microscope and surgery table, a camera connected to a television that shows the work of the attendants, and an additional station that is used for demonstrations.
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The Center also contains one grand and several, smaller, state-of-the-art lecture theaters, an area dedicated to the development of models for teaching (i.e., with the aim to minimize the use of human and animal tissues in teaching), a team of medical illustrators, and a team of PhD supervisors and PhD students undertaking on-site research. The Center’s dedicated staff support the mentors and attendees during the course with the delivery/care of instrumentation, preparation of tissues and tidying up.

The Center has its own sleeping quarters onsite (i.e. double bedrooms with an en-suite), a small canteen for attendees and personnel, a medical art museum and a large underground parking. There are male and female lockers at the general entrance of the operating suites, where each attendee will find a locker with the scrubs and theater shoes provided by the Center (attendees will be asked for their scrub and shoe size well ahead to the start of the course). The canteen serves local cuisine, with meals made onsite with local produce and recipes. The canteen can cater to (limited) gluten-free and vegetarian needs if these are requested ahead of time (attendees will be asked for special diet needs well ahead of the start of the course). The evenings are free for attendees are free to enjoy Cáceres historical city center, where one can find a variety of restaurants that cater to all pockets and range from fine cuisine to tourist-focused meals.

About Cáceres

Spain is divided in 17 autonomous regions. The provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz (each with a small capital city with the same name) are in the autonomous region of Extremadura with an extension similar to that of the Netherlands but only 1 million inhabitants. About 400,000 people live in Cáceres province and of those 98,000 live in Cáceres city. The province has many cultural sites of interest, such as the Yuste Monastery, where Charles V, Roman Holy Emperor (known as Carlos I de España) retired, or the medieval castle and city of Trujillo. The city of Cáceres was founded by the Romans, it is encircled by 12^th century Moorish walls, and it has a beautifully preserved medieval city center that is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The CCMIJU is found just outside of the historical heart of Cáceres, which is a short taxi ride away (i.e., the taxi costs approximately €7 each way). There are plenty of delightful walks through the hilly streets of medieval Cáceres. The historical center is often used to film period movies and series including some of the most famous episodes of Game of Thrones. The city has many restaurants where the attendees may spend the evenings enjoying Spanish wines and regional cuisine.

The climate is normally sunny, warm, and dry in the Spring and Summer months (i.e., June’s average low-to-high temperatures are 16 C -to- 30 C). The area around Cáceres is a natural landscape with large expands of agricultural land and wild fields. Agriculture, farming, and historical as well as culinary tourism shape its economic engine. The famed Spanish ‘Ibérico’ ham comes from this region, as do some of Spain’s olives and olive oil, and natural cork for the Spanish wineries.