Research and teaching capacity has quadrupled thanks to the development of Semmelweis University

The National Cardiovascular Laboratory of Semmelweis University in Herceghalom has been refurbished at a cost of 2.2 billion forints, funded partly from domestic sources and partly from EU funds, said the rector of the medical university on 23 April 2026 at the institution’s official handover ceremony.

Béla Merkely spoke of how the facility could serve as a key link in the chain of surgical and cardiovascular research. He added that the refurbished and expanded facility would simultaneously fulfil the medical university’s threefold mission: patient care through education, research and innovation.

We last reported on the construction work nearly a year ago we reported on the construction when the facility reached the structural completion stage. The construction was carried out by Fehérép Kft..

The Herceghalom campus of Semmelweis University has been home to the George Berci Surgical Teaching and Research Laboratory for over a decade now. On the one hand, it plays a key role in specialist medical training – during the surgical skills training sessions organised here, young doctors can practise surgical techniques and various manoeuvres – and on the other hand, research into surgical and cardiological topics is also carried out here,” added the university’s rector.

A comprehensive research programme is dedicated to combating cardiovascular diseases

Béla Merkely explained that this latest development, together with the scientific research laboratory in Városmajor named after Sándor Juhász Nagy, forms the main site of the project known as the National Cardiovascular Laboratory. He added that this complex research and innovation programme, based on collaboration between several institutions, focuses on understanding and treating age-related cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, coronary artery disease and heart transplantation itself.

„The aim is to develop new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures based on modern scientific findings, and to refine these into forms that can be applied in practice,” explained the rector.

He emphasised that Semmelweis University is the leading university in the region and the country, a true centre of excellence at European level, ranked as the 186th best institution in the world in the field of medicine and health sciences, and indeed, in certain disciplines, it features in the top 100. He added that, in the field of cardiovascular medicine, for example, it is ranked among the top 35 universities in the world.

According to his statement, the developments at Herceghalom will now provide four times the previous floor space for education and research, as well as for the surgical and cardiovascular training of the next generation.