After two frustrated attempts due to the lack of a quorum, the Board of Directors of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the UNLP managed to meet this Monday. In a scenario of strong political tensions and after the «mistakes» of the ruling party in previous calls, the leadership of the academic unit was defined for the period 2026-2030.
The Faculty of Medical Sciences finally has a new dean. After weeks of uncertainty and an administrative paralysis that kept one of the most populous academic units of the National University of La Plata in suspense, this Monday, March 30, the election of Gustavo Marin as the highest authority of the house of studies.
The appointment comes after a complex electoral process. It should be remembered that the two previous sessions of the Board of Directors had not been able to take place due to the systematic absence of the directors aligned with the outgoing management of Juan Ángel Basualdo. These «mistakes» prevented reaching the regulatory quorum required for the vote in the first instance, which forced the definition to be postponed.
End of acephaly
Today’s day was marked by expectation. As this is a third call, the regulations allow for a meeting with a simple majority, which finally enabled voting despite the persistent differences between the cloisters.
Gustavo Marín, who has an outstanding career as a CONICET researcher and teacher in Public Health, will take on the challenge of leading a faculty that comes from years of intense internal debates about its study plans and its relationship with the public health system.
The UNLP map
With the resolution in Medicine, the National University of La Plata completes one of the most conflictive boxes on its electoral schedule. While other faculties such as Architecture or Dentistry resolved their authorities weeks ago with relative calm, the conflict in Medical Sciences was emerging as the main source of tension towards the UNLP presidential election, scheduled for next April 11.
The student and teaching sectors that promoted the change hope that this new stage will allow institutional functioning to be normalized and meet academic demands postponed during the last period.
With this election, Gustavo Marín succeeds Juan Ángel Basualdo Farjat, closing a management cycle that was marked by the post-pandemic and the adaptation of pre-professional practices in the region’s hospitals.
Related note: The UNLP is going through another week of strike and tension grows in the classrooms
