Dates and Rules Announced for 2026 Scientific Project Pitch Sessions
For young Russian researchers and, for the first time in the history of the “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” project, for young international healthcare specialists, five online pitch sessions in the Russian Federation and a series of international pitch sessions (online and offline) will be held from April to May to review scientific projects. Their guidelines were established during a working meeting between the V.P. Filatov Foundation team and the Youth Coordinating Committee.
This structure was established in 2025 with the support of the Foundation’s long-standing partner — the Council of Young Scientists of Medical and Pharmaceutical Higher Educational and Research Organizations of the Ministry of Health of Russia (SMU). Committee members — chairs of regional councils of young scientists — serve as mentors for participants across all “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” programs.
All project review sessions for Russian participants will take place in person, engaging leading national experts in medicine. The pitch schedule has been finalized:
April 1 — Vladivostok.
April 10 — Nizhny Novgorod.
April 16 — Kemerovo.
April 23 — Smolensk.
April 28 — Krasnodar.
International pitch sessions will be held partly online. Following all reviews, the Foundation’s expert council will select 30 Russian and 10 international authors of the most outstanding projects to attend the All-Russian Summer Camp “RUSSIA — A COUNTRY OF SCIENTISTS. MEDICINA MOLODAYA.”
A key objective of the V.P. Filatov International Foundation for Biomedical Technologies Development this year is fostering international scientific project communication and teams.
— We are actively negotiating with Rossotrudnichestvo. As a result, representatives from most CIS countries will participate in our programs: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus. We are currently liaising with Uzbekistan and Belarus. An agreement is being signed with India, whose citizens submitted 8 research papers last year. Negotiations are also underway with China and Serbia. Participants from these countries will attend the All-Russian Summer Camp and the Top 20 event in Moscow. As part of the main “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” competition, a dedicated category “Best International Project” has been established, — stated Elena Kolotilo, Director of the Foundation.
This year (as in 2025), applications will open in advance for each pitch session, followed by the selection of 20 participants, announced Elena Maslenkova, Chair of the Council of Young Scientists of Medical and Pharmaceutical Higher Educational and Research Organizations of the Ministry of Health of Russia and member of the Youth Coordinating Council of the “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” project. She also emphasized the direction of the experts’ work during the pitches:
— Currently, fields such as regenerative medicine, molecular medicine, and genetics are at the forefront of science. Regardless of the country, young scientists aspire to work specifically in these areas, and that is where innovations originate. It is immensely valuable for us within the “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” project to organize a lineup of both Russian and international pitch sessions. By focusing on shared thematic domains while exchanging insights across different laboratories worldwide, we can arrive at groundbreaking solutions, — Elena Maslenkova noted.
All “MEDICINA MOLODAYA” events will be held with the support of the Federation Council, the Presidential Grants Foundation, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, with scientific guidance from the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Medical Scientific and Educational Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University, alongside collaboration with other leading research centers across Russia.
