GCS HUGO, in integrated academic health network of University Hospitals in Western France

In France, large teaching hospitals – known as University Hospitals (Centres Hospitaliers Universitaires, or CHU) – have a threefold mission:

• delivering patient care, including highly specialized and tertiary services,

• medical education and training,

• conducting biomedical research and fostering innovation.

A distinctive feature of the French University Hospital model is the close integration of academic and clinical activities. Teaching and research facilities are closely linked with hospital infrastructures within the same institution, creating an environment that fosters collaboration among healthcare professionals, researchers and educators.

HUGO builds on this model by extending collaboration beyond individual institutions. Its philosophy is to strengthen the three core missions of university hospitals—care, education and research—through large-scale, structuring initiatives that benefit from shared investment, pooled expertise and economies of scale. By working collectively, HUGO’s members can develop ambitious infrastructures, research programmes, training initiatives and innovation projects that would be more difficult to achieve independently.