Collaboration by Gustavo Fraga

Last October, Prof. Gustavo P. Fraga, Full Professor and Coordinator of the Division of Trauma Surgery (DCT) at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (Unicamp), traveled to Toronto, Canada, supported by the DERI 44/2024 grant. His visit aimed to advance research in medical education in collaboration with Prof. Filipe N. C. Santos of the University of Toronto. Their project, titled “Anesthesia and Trauma Surgery Teamwork for Undergraduate Medical Students: Collaboration Between Canada and Brazil”, focuses on enhancing student learning through cross-national expertise.

Prof. Fraga arrived in Toronto on November 25, and was welcomed by Prof. Filipe N. C. Santos at the Simulation Center at Saint Michael’s Hospital. Prof. Santos was engaged in regular activities with residents and fellows from the Anesthesia Department. On the same day, Prof. Fraga toured the Simulation Center and the Anesthesia Department, where he met Prof. Wesla Packer Pfeifer Ferrarezi, a former SMS-Unicamp student and current faculty member at the University of Toronto.

On November 26, Prof. Fraga visited the P.A.R.T.Y. Program (Prevention of Alcohol-Related Trauma in Youth) at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto. He remarked, “This extension program has been run by the Trauma League at HC-Unicamp since 2010, bringing high school students from public schools to learn about trauma prevention.” In 2024, the P.A.R.T.Y. Program was incorporated into the first-year curriculum at SMS-Unicamp, alongside the Stop the Bleed training, which Prof. Fraga observed that afternoon.

On November 27, Prof. Fraga visited the MaRS Building at Toronto General Hospital to attend an online presentation by recent SMS graduate Dr. Daniele Evangelista Leite da Silva. She presented her postdoctoral project on lung transplantation with participation from Prof. Shaf Keshavjee, a world-renowned expert in the field. Later, Prof. Fraga met Prof. Ivone M. Pereira, a pulmonologist based in Canada for 27 years, who coordinates a network of 250 Brazilian doctors in Toronto and other cities across Canada.

On November 28, Prof. Fraga met with Dr. Fábio Mendes Botelho, a Trauma Surgery fellow at Saint Michael’s Hospital, and his wife, Dr. Júlia Ferreira, a Pediatric Surgery fellow at Sick Kids Hospital. Both hospitals are affiliated with the University of Toronto. That same day, he visited Prof. Dr. Andréa Dória, Associate Professor and Director of the Department of Imaging Medicine at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, based at Sick Kids Hospital.

On November 29, Prof. Fraga participated in the Grand Round of the Department of Anesthesiology at Saint Michael’s Hospital, where he delivered a lecture titled “Teaching Non-Technical Skills to Medical Students and Residents”. He then toured the Trauma Center at Saint Michael’s Hospital with Prof. João Batista Rezende-Neto, a trauma surgeon and professor at the University of Toronto. In the afternoon, he returned to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to meet Prof. Dr. Luís Teodoro da Luz, a Brazilian trauma surgeon residing in Toronto for 15 years.

“During these visits, I invited colleagues to participate in the World Congress of Trauma & Emergency Leagues (WCTEL) and the Students’ World Championship in Emergency and Trauma Simulation, which will take place in Campinas at Unicamp from July 1 to 6, 2025. It was a week full of activities and a great opportunity to bring valuable insights back to Campinas,” Prof. Fraga concluded.