Undergraduate research: innovazione, sfide e prospettive

University education for healthcare professionals is currently facing in creasing clinical complexity, rapid scientific development, and growing demands for quality and patient safety. In this context, traditional lec ture-based teaching approaches often prove insufficient to foster com plex professional competences. This paper presents an innovative educational model integrating realistic simulation, inquiry-based lear ning, and generative artificial intelligence through faculty avatars. The proposed approach combines a solid pedagogical framework with an operational model already tested in academic settings, showing how avatars can extend faculty presence within digital and simulated envi ronments, fostering active learning, clinical reasoning, and metacogni tive reflection. The paper concludes by discussing implications, limitations, and future perspectives, particularly in relation to conti nuing medical education.