The Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine (PPGMT), area of concentration in Tropical and Infectious Diseases, at the State University of Amazonas (UEA) works in broad agreement with the Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Tropical Medicine Foundation (FMT-HVD) . It has an interdisciplinary and multi-professional character, constituting an academic space for the training of masters and doctors. It is one of only two postgraduate programs in Tropical Medicine/Infectious Diseases in the Northern Region of Brazil.

CAPES: Quadrennial Assessment 2017 Concept 5
Evaluation period: 2013 to 2017
Assessment area: Medicine II

The Graduate Program in Tropical Medicine (PPGMT) of the University of the State of Amazonas (UEA) works in a broad agreement with the Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Foundation of Tropical Medicine (FMT-HVD). It is one of only two graduate programs in Tropical Medicine/Infectious Diseases in the Northern Region of Brazil. With a single area of concentration in Tropical and Infectious Diseases, it has an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional character, constituting an academic space for the training of masters and doctors.

The creation of the PPGMT in 2002 met an important pent-up demand for the qualification of health professionals in the Brazilian Amazon, strengthened in 2006 with the implementation of the first doctoral course in the major area of Health Sciences, in the state of Amazonas.

As highlighted in the 2013-2016 Quadrennial Evaluation, the PPGMT has a very relevant regional impact for the development of higher education and research activities, and its Program activities contributed to the nucleation of 3 other Programs in the State of Amazonas. In the current quadrennium, the group’s goal is to consolidate its internationalization, fundraising from different agencies and capacity for academic production and degrees, especially for doctors. To this end, it is taking into account all the opportunities for improvement raised in the previous evaluation, with emphasis on the adequacy of its permanent faculty, through stricter rules for the registration and re-registration of permanent professors in relation to productivity and capacity for training human resources. In addition, today the course is conducted almost exclusively by permanent professors, with a few exceptions of collaborating and visiting professors who assist in disciplines and co-supervision of students. The group’s goal is clear, that is, to raise its concept in the next quadrennial evaluation, being the first course with Concept 6 in the Amazon Region.

By the end of 2017, the PPGMT had enrolled a total of 306 students, of which 228 (74.5%) were master’s students and 78 (25.5%) were doctoral students. Of this total, 202 were graduated, 162 (83%) with a master’s degree and 40 (17%) with a doctorate. At the same time, 59 students are studying, of which 39 (66.1%) are master’s students and 20 (33.9%) are doctoral students. A total of 44 students have been terminated since the beginning of the course, demonstrating a relatively low dropout rate. One student migrated from a master’s degree to a doctorate in 2016. For 2018, 21 master’s students were selected and enrolled in February and March. Among these, 3 master’s students selected by the Program of Alliances for Education and Training (PAEC-OAS-GCUB), under the Cooperation Agreement between the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities (GCUB) and 10 doctoral students were enrolled, among them 1 by PAEC. In the case of the doctorate, the selection is carried out continuously, with new applications starting in February and ending in September of each year, and the number of vacancies depends on the availability of an advisor.

An important feature of the PPGMT for the training and qualification of human resources in this region concerns the profile of the freshmen, both in the doctoral and master’s courses. In the first 5 years of PPGMT’s activity, 90% of the enrolled students had an employment relationship. In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the number of students entering the PPGMT without an employment relationship (70% in the master’s degree and 30% in the doctorate), and the doctoral students without a link to the labor market are mainly those who graduated from the master’s course, who continue their master’s projects and work full-time. Although most of the students do not have the profile to receive a scholarship because they have an employment relationship, historically the PPGMT has already implemented scholarships for 155 students (110 master’s and 45 doctorate). As of 12/31/2017, we have 43 students receiving scholarships, 25 master’s and 18 doctoral students.

What is observed is that our graduates are well absorbed in the labor market, considering that the offer is still large, especially in higher education and research, whether in public or private institutions. To highlight this fact, all 40 doctors graduated so far are effectively affiliated with important public teaching and research institutions, with emphasis on FMT-HVD, UEA, the two institutions (in double contracts), the Amazonas Health Surveillance Foundation, the Federal University of Amazonas, the Alfredo da Matta Dermatology Foundation, the Amazonas Hematology and Hemotherapy Foundation, Federal University of Roraima and Fiocruz (INI-RJ). Two are teaching staff in private HEIs. The PPGMT itself has in its staff, eleven permanent professors who are graduates of the doctoral course, inserted in this category to strengthen the existing lines of research, as well as creating other important lines for the program.

The permanent and effective participation of several professors who have held the position of coordinator of the program, since its creation, has allowed the renewal of ideas and diversity in management, with substantial administrative and academic improvements at each evaluation period in a harmonious process of progressive accumulation of positive experiences.

It is also noteworthy that 4 graduates are currently coordinators of stricto sensu graduate courses in Amazonas. The formation of a solid culture in the management of stricto sensu graduate programs in the North of the country is also a secondary objective of this strategy, in the expectation that more and more programs will be opened, multiplying training capacities to effectively contribute to the definitive overcoming of regional inequalities in relation to the number of masters and doctors. compared to the rest of the country.

In the year of the program’s creation, there were no professors who had actually been hired by UEA among the professors, and its entire staff of doctors belonged to FMT-HVD or on a temporary basis at UEA. Today, the permanent staff is composed of 10 research professors from FMT-HVD, 9 tenured professors from UEA and 4 researchers from other institutions. Recently, FMT-HVD held a public competition for 6 vacancies of researchers, with the possibility of admission in 2018.

General objectives of the program

The study area of the PPGMT includes the tropical and infectious diseases of greatest occurrence and impact in the Amazon Region, in their various biological, immunological, epidemiological, entomological, pathogenetic and therapeutic aspects. UEA’s partnership with a research institution (FMT-HVD), which is also part of the Unified Health System (SUS), allows for a permanent feedback loop of research lines and priorities, based on the burden of diseases. In other words, the applied research that is developed at the PPGMT is a response to the main public health problems related to infectious diseases in the State of Amazonas, collaborating in a very direct way for their control or resolution.

Curriculum Structure

In 2018, a reformulation of the stricto sensu graduate regulations at UEA was approved, which we believe was beneficial for the approval of a new curricular structure at PPGMT, more flexible and that allows greater interaction between existing courses at the university itself and with courses at other institutions. The curriculum of the program’s courses consists of a set of subjects taught in the form of theoretical classes, seminars, practical assignments or other didactic activities. Previously non-existent as an independent discipline, Supervised Teaching Practice is now considered a mandatory activity for scholarship students and optional for others, providing greater interaction with the undergraduate program. In the new regulations of the course, the student who is the author or co-author of a work published in a Qualis B2 or higher journal (in the area of Medicine II), with a permanent faculty member as a co-author, during the course, will be entitled to 2 (two) credits per article, upon formal request to the program’s coordination. All optional credits obtained in other UEA programs may also be accepted, which will be computed by the PPGMT in specific curricular units. Likewise, all credits obtained in other Tropical Medicine/Tropical Diseases programs from other institutions in Brazil may be accepted, which will be computed by the PPGMT in specific curricular units. This last change was an achievement obtained after the creation of the National Network of Graduate Programs in Tropical Diseases/Tropical Medicine, currently composed of 9 programs, at the initiative of the PPGMT coordination.

Currently, the curricular structure of the PPGMT is summarized as follows:

MASTERS:

Required Credits: 6;
Optional Credits: 24;
Total Credits: 30.
Workload in Research – Dissertation Project: 10.

DOCTORATE:

Mandatory Credits, including Evaluation Seminars and/or publication of scientific articles: 10;
Optional Credits: 30;
Total Credits: 40.
Workload in Research – Thesis Project: 20.

Innovative training experiences

In the PPGMT, the participation of doctoral students in the coordination of projects in two categories has been provided:

1) Coordination of a project approved by a funding agency – In the State of Amazonas, the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Amazonas allows master’s degrees to compete in public notices for research funding. Thus, upon completing the master’s degree, the professional is able to raise the financial resources for his doctoral project. Thus, in the PPGMT, both graduates and masters degrees in other programs do not depend on funding from the advisor to be included in any project and thus apply for the doctoral course. Around 20% of doctoral students raised financial resources to carry out their thesis projects.

2) Coordination and supervision of Scientific Initiation projects – PPGMT doctoral students are encouraged to submit subprojects linked to the objectives of their thesis proposals to the FMT-HVD and UEA Scientific Initiation Support Program. Thus, they are trained in the orientation of CI students, thus contributing to the training of undergraduates.

3) In 2018, a reformulation of the PPGMT regulations was approved, the student regularly enrolled in the master’s course, for at least 12 months, may, at the time of the qualifying exam, apply for migration to the doctorate, as long as he has the consent of the advisor.

FMT-HVD begins the training of young people while still in graduation through Scientific Initiation, offering the opportunity to enter the master’s and/or doctoral program. It also provides specialization for medical professionals in Infectious Diseases, Dermatology, Hepatology, Pediatrics and Tropical Medicine and multiprofessional residency (Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Psychology and Nursing). After completing the doctorate, those who have good scientific production and who already have funded projects can apply for the program’s faculty. In addition, the institution has multiple partnerships with national and international institutions, which facilitates internships. It is possible, therefore, to train the scientist from his base in the undergraduate course to his maximum degree.

Indicators of integration with graduation

Both professors, students and graduates of this program work in undergraduate courses at UEA and other HEIs in Amazonas. Of the 23 permanent professors, 16 have a direct link with undergraduate courses.

At FMT-HDV, internships are offered to undergraduate students in the area of health and research initiation activities are developed (through the Scientific Initiation Support Program – PAIC, funded by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Amazonas – FAPEAM), inserting undergraduate students from both UEA and other HEIs, in the dissertation research projects and theses of the students of this program. strengthening the interaction between the graduate and undergraduate courses, generating benefits for both.

The PAIC of FMT-HVD completed 15 years of existence and, therefore, walked in parallel with the history of the PPGMT, feeding back on each other. The scholarships are currently fully funded by FAPEAM. In the FMT-HVD program, doctoral students can supervise CI students, exercising their capacity for supervision and scientific guidance. In this quadrennium, it is possible to grant optional credits to doctoral students who play this role in its entirety. The participation of PPGMT students in the FMT-HVD Scientific Initiation Congress (which has been held since 2011), evaluating papers and attending the various lectures that discuss specific scientific topics and research in Brazil also entitles them to an optional credit.

The FMT-HVD begins the training of young people while still in graduation through Scientific Initiation, offering the opportunity for admission to the master’s and/or doctorate. It also provides specialization for medical professionals in Infectious Diseases, Dermatology, Hepatology, Pediatrics, and multiprofessional residency (Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Psychology and Nursing). After completing their doctorate, they can apply to the program’s faculty. In addition, the institution has multiple partnerships with national and international institutions, which facilitates internships. It is possible, therefore, to train the scientist from his base in the undergraduate course to his maximum degree.

National and International Exchanges

NATIONAL NETWORK OF GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN TROPICAL DISEASES/TROPICAL MEDICINE – Currently composed of 9 programs, at the initiative of the PPGMT coordination. The implementation of the following activities will be stimulated within the framework of the network:

i) Facilitate the exchange of collaborating and visiting professors between the programs, contributing with important actions for the development of the programs, with productive and good quality exchanges, respecting that the support of each program, however, must always be based on the set of its permanent professors;

ii) Promote/organize national and international scientific events, involving the faculty and students of the programs;

iii) Promote inter-institutional agreements in the area of education, with mobilization of the student body of the programs, through the creation of shared disciplines between the programs, especially taught in English. In the PPGMT, all credits obtained in other Tropical Medicine/Tropical Diseases programs from other institutions in Brazil can already be accepted, which will be computed by the PPGMT in specific curricular units. This last change was an achievement obtained after the creation of the National Network of Graduate Programs in Tropical Diseases/Tropical Medicine.

iv) Promote inter-institutional agreements in the area of research, with mobilization of the student body of the programs, especially doctoral students, by stimulating internships in institutions with partner courses;

v) Demand the launch of public notices that guarantee funding for projects within the scope of the network;

vi) Promote the exchange of postdoctoral researchers among the network’s courses, especially with the support of funding agencies;

vii) Encourage collaboration among the network’s faculty members through a policy of multicenter projects and joint scientific publications;

viii) Performance of the faculty of the network’s courses in lectures, examination boards, courses and other didactic activities, with extension to the entire network;

ix) Encourage the joint raising of financial resources from national and international funding agencies;

x) Creation of a space for the annual evaluation of the network’s activities at the congresses of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine.

JOINT AND SYSTEMATIC ACTIVITIES WITH OTHER PROGRAMS – Since its inception, the PPGMT has been strengthened by the partnership between UEA and FMT-HVD. Throughout the 15 years of partnership and activities carried out, the trend has been greater formal and informal interaction with other HEIs and PIs in Manaus and other Brazilian states.

In addition to the physical infrastructure, personnel and access to research subjects from both institutions, the program partners and develops projects in collaboration with important local institutions, such as the Amazon Research Institute (INPA), the Leônidas and Maria Deane Institute (FIOCRUZ-Amazônia), the Amazonas Hematology and Hemotherapy Foundation (HEMOAM), the Alfredo da Matta Foundation (FUAM), the Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS), Nilton Lins University (UNL) and Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), where many advisors also work in the area of research.

Outside the Amazon, the main partnerships are with the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), the René Rachou Research Center (FIOCRUZ-Minas Gerais), the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC-FIOCRUZ), the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the University of Brasília (UnB), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI-FIOCRUZ), Faculty of Medicine of São José do Rio Preto (FAMERP), Butantan Institute (IB), Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ) and Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

An important achievement in the area of National Exchanges was the approval of the project “Strengthening of Graduate Programs, in the Amazon and Extra-Amazon, with emphasis on snakebites: a strategy for personnel training and interdisciplinarity”, by the CAPES PROCAD PUBLIC NOTICE No. 071/2013. In this proposal, the Graduate Programs in Tropical Medicine (PPGMT), in Toxinology of the Butantan Institute (PPGTox) and in Environmental Sciences of the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT) (PPGCiamb) will seek the joint and multidisciplinary training of masters and doctors who work on problems related to snakebite poisoning from the clinical, toxinological and environmental prisms, advancing the knowledge of the problem of the Amazon. and with answers that can be extended to other areas where snakebite stands out as a health problem. In this area, the PPGTox (IBU) has extensive experience in studies of the composition and mechanism of action of venoms and antivenoms and the development of important laboratory tests for the diagnosis and follow-up of snakebites.

In addition, IB is an international reference center in the production of antivenoms used in the treatment of these accidents. The PPGMT (FMT-HVD) recently implemented the line of research on accidents caused by venomous animals. The FMT-HVD is the reference in the state of Amazonas for this type of disease and has been counting since 2013. With the construction of the PESCLIN III Unit, it intends to increase the capture of clinical trial projects, either due to the greater contribution of resources, the vocation of the endemic area of Manaus or the insertion of FMT-HVD within the National Clinical Research Network of the Ministry of Health, which constitutes a strength of the program. The PPGCiamb (UFT) has a vocation for biodiversity studies and is starting its work in the area of Toxinology. Considering the complementarity of the expertise of each team, it is expected that these interactions will bring important results in the graduate programs involved through interinstitutional cooperation that will allow a multidisciplinary training of students, with internships and courses in other programs. In addition to relevant and high-impact publications, we also expect results of interest to society, such as the design of new immunogens, production of new antivenoms, tests for immunodiagnosis of snakebite, and establishment of clinical parameters and protocols that will substantiate multicenter clinical studies for the treatment of snakebites, improving the clinical capacity established to deal with the disease in the northern region. aiming at reducing clinical complications and deaths, with more favorable prognosis.

The exchange is intense and many students from these institutions develop their dissertations and theses in partnership with our professors in Manaus and vice versa. This ensures visibility of the program and its institutions, as well as allowing our students to work together with students from other graduate programs.

Among the goals of the PPGMT for the next quadrennium is the training of human resources beyond the scope of the capital of Amazonas. This possibility has been discussed among the collegiate and the possibility of carrying out the selection of interested candidates in the municipalities where UEA has Higher Education Centers is envisaged. Of the five existing ones, 3 (three) train professionals in the areas of health and biological sciences (Parintins, Tefé and Tabatinga). At the moment, we still do not have a staff of teachers who can travel to carry out the activities in the countryside and therefore it will be necessary for those selected to attend the credits in Manaus. The possibility of carrying out the projects in the municipality of origin is discussed, especially with the collaboration of tenured professors from UEA. In this sense, it is intended to train human resources with the collaboration of professors from UEA itself, as well as to train professionals without master’s or doctoral degrees to work in the interior of the State.

Within the scope of institutions in other countries, the PPGMT has collaborated with Instituto de Salud Global (ISGlobal-Spain), CRESIB (Spain), Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT-Portugal), Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (Australia), Sardar Patel Medical College (India), Manhiça Foundation (Mozambique), Instituto de Inmunología del Valle (Colombia), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Peru), John Hopkins School of Medicine and Emory University (USA), among others.

 

National and international professors and researchers are frequently invited to give lectures at the Scientific Sessions (which takes place every Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the Dr. Luiz Montenegro Auditorium of FMT-HVD) or at sporadic events held by UEA or FMT-HVD. There are also frequent invitations to participate in the program’s dissertation and thesis judging committees.

The search for professionals from other Latin American, African (São Tomé and Príncipe) or even European (Spain) countries for insertion in the PPGMT, has added an important experience of internationalization in the relationship between faculty and students, even expanding the horizons of the main lines of research of the program. An advance in this direction was the agreement signed by UEA with the Alliances for Education Program (PAEC), offering master’s and doctoral scholarships to selected students from the member countries of the OAS (Organization of American States). Today, PPGMT has 3 doctoral students and 5 master’s students coming from this program.

The posters for the dissemination of the selection processes are now sent in physical media to various HEIs and IPs around the world, as well as calls on the websites of highly visible international scientific societies and journals. In 2014, a co-supervision agreement was signed with the University of Barcelona (Spain), with whom UEA already maintains close technical and scientific collaboration.

Lines of Research

Within the scope of internal academic activities, there was a modification in the lines of research, with the inclusion of 2 new lines, which will allow a better distribution of research projects and academic production of the faculty:

1) Lines of Research:

a) Unusual Diseases and Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases

Description: Investigation of outbreaks and epidemics, of new cases of communicable and non-communicable diseases, which pose threats to people’s health, establishing causal agents, risk factors and prevention and control measures.

b) Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Viral Hepatitis

Description: To develop studies on aspects related to the transmission of STDs and viral hepatitis, considering local specificities, epidemiology, clinical presentation, immunopathogenesis and therapeutic sensitivity. Phenotyping, opportunistic and concomitant infections in HIV/AIDS patients.

In 2017, there was a reformulation of the stricto sensu graduate regiment at UEA, which we consider to have been beneficial for the approval of a new curricular structure at PPGMT, more flexible and that allows greater interaction between the existing courses at the university itself and with the courses of other institutions. The curriculum of the program’s courses consists of a set of subjects taught in the form of theoretical classes, seminars, practical assignments or other didactic activities. Previously non-existent as an independent discipline, Supervised Teaching Practice is now considered a mandatory activity for scholarship students and optional for others, providing greater interaction with the undergraduate program. In the new regulations of the course, the student who is the author or co-author of a work published in a Qualis B2 or higher journal (in the area of Medicine II), with a permanent faculty member as a co-author, during the course, will be entitled to 2 (two) credits per article, upon formal request to the program’s coordination. All optional credits obtained in other UEA programs may also be accepted, which will be computed by the PPGMT in specific curricular units. Likewise, all credits obtained in other Tropical Medicine/Tropical Diseases programs from other institutions in Brazil may be accepted, which will be computed by the PPGMT in specific curricular units. This last change was an achievement obtained after the creation of the National Network of Graduate Programs in Tropical Diseases/Tropical Medicine, currently composed of 9 programs, at the initiative of the PPGMT coordination.