The inaugural 40 Under 40 Public Health Catalyst Awards aim to highlight the rising leaders and innovators of the public health field. The Boston Congress of Public Health (BCPH) and the HPHR Journal selected a group of “leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, activists”, and doctors that will inspire the next generations of public health workers to change the world. The individuals featured for this award have not only shown excellent work performance and an extensive academic history but have also brought innovative solutions to public health issues around the world.
The NYC Daily Post interviewed 40 under 40 award winners to learn about their career journeys leading up to their nominations.
Q1. What’s a piece of advice you’ve received that has impacted your career journey?
Advice from the philosopher and professor Mário Sergio Cortella, who said that it is necessary to understand the necessity of not stagnating, not to interrupt the process of vitality that comes exactly from the capacity for continuous learning, renewal, opening the mind, being able to of, among other things, never being considered complete, ready or done in full. On the opposite, it is necessary to feel like someone under construction, a continuous work of life.
Q2. Do you have a mentor you’d like to recognize? If so, what would you like to say to them?
My mentor has always been my father. He taught me the values of life.
Q3. What advice would you give a young professional beginning their career in your field?
Start your journey by helping with community service. Being in contact with people who need help is the true learning of medicine.
Q4. If you could do one thing, leave one mark, on your profession, what would it be?
Improve public health with an emphasis on preventive medicine so that suffering from the disease can be avoided.
Q5. Name a challenge you’ve faced and how it turned out.
Working on the front lines of COVID-19 was the biggest challenge of my career. I never imagined that the world would go through a pandemic of such proportions. It was necessary to relearn how to live in the midst of isolation and the needs of patients. Gradually I adapted to the new reality and sought as much information as possible on how to treat the new disease. It was a period of much research and learning.
Q6. What is your ultimate career goal as you see it today?
My main career goal is the democratization of precision medicine.
Q7. What alternate role(s) would you be interested in pursuing?
Development of research and teaching for the improvement of medicine.
Q8. What core values are important to succeeding in your professional field?
Ethics, solidarity, and humanity.
Q9. Ten years ago, I thought I would be …
I didn’t think about what it would be like, but I planned so that things didn’t just depend on my luck. Looking at myself today, I believe I have achieved most of my goals.
Q10. Ten years from now, I want to be …
Someone who has achieved their ideal of happiness while maintaining a good conscience and peace of mind.
Q11. Would you want to acknowledge any family/friends/partners (beyond mentors)? If so, who?
Family is not just a blood bond and DNA coincidences, family is the most precious asset we can have, it’s the ones we gain at birth and the ones we choose for life. In general, I would like to thank everyone who has always been by my side, but especially my wife Aline, my son Lucas, my mother Rosa, my father Pedro and my brothers Renata and Ricardo and my special uncles Maria Helena and Rita.
Q12. Please indicate your hometown, place of study, degree field(s), and an interesting fact about yourself.
I was born in a city called Franca, but I studied medicine in the coastal city of Santos, both in Brazil. An interesting fact that few people know is that I started my studies in the faculty of biomedicine, but working in the laboratory did not allow me to have the contact I would like with people. It was this desire to be close to people that led me to study medicine.
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