Tecnological Innovation Center (TIC)
The Graduate Program (PPG) has resources from the Technological Innovation Centers (NIT) of the University of São Paulo and the NIT of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo. The installed infrastructure places the HEI in a prominent position in the health innovation scenario, contributing to advances in the development of solutions for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases, collaborating for the development of the health economic-industrial complex in Brazil.
At the Technological Innovation Center of USP, the USP Innovation Agency (AUSPIN) (https://www.inovacao.usp.br/), which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025, is responsible for managing the innovation policy to promote the use of scientific, technological, and cultural knowledge produced at the university, for the benefit of the sustainable socioeconomic development of the State of São Paulo and the country. It acts in the protection of industrial and intellectual property generated at the University of São Paulo, carrying out all necessary procedures for the registration of patents, trademarks, copyrights of books, software, music, among other creations. It offers support to faculty and graduate students of USP in the development of collaborative projects to better manage relationships with business sectors, as well as to communicate to society in general the impact and benefits of science-driven innovations developed by USP researchers. Through business incubators, technology parks, and specific training programs, it promotes entrepreneurship, offering technical, managerial, and complementary training to entrepreneurs. AUSPIN's lines of action are: (1) incentive to innovation – intellectual property; (2) technology transfer, aiming to make them available to society; (3) R&D&I Prospecting; (4) partnerships with the private and governmental sectors; (5) promotion of the internalization of research in companies; (6) extensionism for competitiveness; (7) support for entrepreneurship; (8) communication and dissemination of innovation in strategic projects; and (9) national and international cooperation for the promotion of innovation.
The NIT of USP has InovaUSP, a space designed to integrate laboratories and initiatives in a multidisciplinary environment focused on research and innovation development. This space serves independent laboratories of academic units and promotes interdisciplinary collaborative activities. Furthermore, it encourages USP graduate students to enhance their training in entrepreneurship and innovation. In this context, InovaUSP seeks to directly and indirectly foster innovation and entrepreneurship, contributing to the creation of companies, job generation, increased competitiveness and productivity, and thus improving the quality of life of the population.
In addition to the NIT of USP, the PPG directly uses the infrastructure of the NIT of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of USP, called InovaHC. InovaHC has Technological Innovation Centers (CITs) within the Institutes of HCFMUSP, which advise researchers/entrepreneurs on matters related to the processes of transforming ideas into products, partnerships with companies, intellectual property, and technology transfer to the market, as well as the development of local activities that stimulate projects with technological innovation potential.
The Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (HCFMUSP) has a robust and diversified infrastructure that supports health innovation activities. It is one of the largest hospital institutions in Latin America, known for combining excellent care, high-quality teaching, and cutting-edge research, with an increasing support for innovation activities and partnerships with companies.
Innovation Programs:
- InCube-InovaHC: Institutional program that fosters innovation in the hospital, encompassing everything from the initial idea to practical application, with support for prototyping and validation;
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub: Initiative to integrate researchers, students, and entrepreneurs in the search for disruptive solutions in health. This is an area of the Hospital das Clínicas that operates in partnership with the private sector and is currently managed by the company Moso (https://www.moso.ac/).
Laboratories
In 2024, the Usability Center (UX) was implemented within LEPIC (Laboratory of Teaching, Research and Innovation in Surgery), via the Technological Innovation Center of the Central Institute, with resources obtained from the Institutional Technical Reserve (RTI) of FAPESP. This usability unit, accessible to faculty and students of the PPG, aims to optimize devices, technologies, and workflows to improve the safety, efficiency, and experience of patients and healthcare professionals. It evaluates ergonomics, equipment interface, and the impact of innovations in the perioperative environment, promoting integration between teams and the development of evidence-based solutions for better surgical care. PPG students and faculty have access to the Clinical Engineering Laboratory (Labec) at the Hospital das Clínicas of FMUSP, which is responsible for performing preventive maintenance, calibration, and electrical safety tests on the equipment of the institutes within the HCFMUSP complex.
INOVATEC has access to laboratories in the Departments where faculty members are affiliated. These are laboratories dedicated to research and innovation within the FMUSP building, at the Central Institute of the Hospital das Clínicas of FMUSP, and at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of USP. The interdisciplinary nature of the Program favors partnerships and the shared use of Laboratories and physical structures in other institutional areas. Institutional equipment for shared use, known as the Premium Network, is published in a specific area of the institutional website: https://premium.fm.usp.br/. The PPG's own laboratories are part of the Medical Investigation Laboratories (LIMs), which are units of the Hospital das Clínicas linked to the Departments and Disciplines of FMUSP, and whose details are available at https://limhc.fm.usp.br/portal/ as well as on the PPG website. These laboratories aim at the development of clinical and translational research; the standardization of new diagnostic techniques and methods with the possibility of validation for use in patients; the training of researchers in basic and applied research. LIMs are research, teaching, and training sites for undergraduate and graduate students in areas whose curricula are directly or indirectly related to health sciences, with the possibility of incorporating high school and technical students. On the PPG website, there is a specific link to the structures related to each of its own laboratories, as well as a descriptive memorial of each laboratory unit, with a list of available equipment. In addition to the specific equipment described below, the laboratory units have basic infrastructure for experimental laboratories, computers, printers, and access to the internet and institutional data network.
- MICRO-SURGERY-PLASTIC SURGERY LABORATORY (linked to LIM-04): located within the FMUSP main building and with access to the animal facility. Structure with an area of 140.54m2, this laboratory develops research projects of the Translational Surgery AC and related to: Body Contouring Plastic Surgery; Cell Culture and Tissue Engineering. The installed technological park was mostly obtained with FAPESP funding or through various donations. It has 03 permanent staff members, including 01 biologist with a doctorate, 01 laboratory technician, and 01 health technician;
- ANESTHESIOLOGY LABORATORY (linked to LIM-08): located within the FMUSP main building and with access to the animal facility. Medical Investigation Laboratory with an area of 55m2, where projects related to the PPG's LACTs can be carried out. The installed technological park includes equipment obtained through FAPESP funding or by donation. The laboratory has three permanent staff members, including a veterinary doctor specialized in veterinary anesthesia, a biologist with a doctorate, and a laboratory technician;
- EXPERIMENTAL SURGERY RESEARCH LABORATORY (linked to LIM-26): located within the FMUSP main building and with access to the animal facility. Laboratory with an area of 80 m2 where research projects of the Translational Surgery AC and related to the development of surgical techniques in animal and experimental models are carried out. This laboratory also conducts surgical technique teaching activities for undergraduate and lato sensu graduate students. It has 02 permanent staff members, including a higher-level laboratory technician and a mid-level laboratory assistant;
- BIOPHYSICS LABORATORY (linked to LIM-08): Located within the Central Institute of the Hospital das Clínicas of FMUSP. Structure of approximately 45m2, used for activities of the Anesthesia and Analgesia and Perioperative Medicine ACs and for research related to mechanical ventilation devices (LP: Impact of anesthetic-surgical trauma on the respiratory system), in addition to its use for research and skills training in airway access, vascular access, resuscitation, and mechanical ventilation for undergraduate and lato sensu graduate students. Experiments related to incremental technological innovation in materials, including those for airway access, are also being carried out in this laboratory. It has one health technical assistant;
- PAIN NEUROMODULATION LABORATORY: of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of USP, under the responsibility of DP Camila Squarzoni Dale.
Surgical Patient Support Units
The participation of Program members in the Institutes of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (HCFMUSP) and the University Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (HU) enables the development of clinical and translational scientific-technological projects, with continuous training of qualified human resources and broad utilization of the institutional infrastructure. The hospital complex comprises several institutes, allowing for interdisciplinary interaction and knowledge exchange among specialists. The healthcare units have financial resources and an institutional policy for technological updating that provides adequate equipment for quality care and constitute an excellent infrastructure for the execution of projects, such as access to electronic medical records, and the resources of the Clinical Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Laboratories.
- CENTRAL INSTITUTE: a quaternary hospital with 34 surgical rooms, an obstetric center with 04 rooms and 12 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia, where surgical and diagnostic-therapeutic procedures are performed, in addition to a post-anesthetic recovery unit, a general Surgical Intensive Care Unit with 17 beds, as well as an adequate number of inpatient beds for surgical patients and Surgical Outpatient Units, Preoperative Evaluation, and Pain Treatment units. In addition to the Center for Technological Innovation (CITIC-InovaHC), it has a structured clinical research center that allows for research on surgical patients or those admitted to Intensive Care Units;
- HEART INSTITUTE: a quaternary hospital with 14 surgical rooms and 10 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia, in addition to a post-anesthetic recovery unit and a Surgical Intensive Care Unit with 71 beds with coordination linked to the PPG. It has a technological innovation center (InovaINCOR) and a structured clinical research center that allows for the development of projects on surgical patients or those admitted to Intensive Care Units;
- ORTHOPEDICS INSTITUTE: a tertiary hospital with 11 surgical rooms and 01 room for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia and a post-anesthetic recovery unit;
- CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE: a tertiary hospital with 04 surgical rooms and 03 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia and a post-anesthetic recovery unit. The projects developed at this Institute are related to anesthesia and surgery in pediatric patients;
- PSYCHIATRY INSTITUTE: a tertiary hospital with 03 surgical rooms and 01 room for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia, in addition to a unit for electroconvulsive therapy under anesthesia. The research projects under development at this Institute are related to anesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy and neurosurgery;
- CANCER INSTITUTE: a quaternary hospital that stands out for its excellent installed technological infrastructure. It has 14 active surgical rooms and 12 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia, in addition to a post-anesthetic recovery unit, a Surgical Intensive Care Unit with 70 beds, and surgical Outpatient Units for preoperative evaluation and pain treatment. The research projects developed at this Institute are related to anesthesia, surgery, and perioperative care for cancer patients;
- RADIOLOGY INSTITUTE: a tertiary hospital with 12 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia and a post-anesthetic recovery unit, where procedures are performed under anesthesia or sedation. The INLAB, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of InovaHC, is located in this Institute;
- UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: a secondary hospital with 10 surgical rooms, 04 obstetrics rooms, and 03 rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures under anesthesia, in addition to a surgical outpatient unit and a post-anesthetic recovery unit. The projects developed at this hospital are mainly related to general and trauma surgery and anesthesia in obstetrics;
Simulation Centers
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Training Simulators: Advanced simulation centers for the training of professionals in new techniques and technologies.
- Skills Laboratory of FMUSP
- LEPIC
- Usability Center
- Open Innovation Spaces: Collaborative environments for researchers, startups, and companies to work on projects in a multidisciplinary/multiprofessional manner within the InovaHC space.
Information Technology
- Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platforms: The InLab (https://inrad.hc.fm.usp.br/inrad-in-lab/) is an AI laboratory linked to InovaHC and accessible to PPG students, offering advanced analysis tools to integrate clinical data and support research and medical decision-making. The scientific-technological project of student Victor Sapountzakis Ribeiro's dissertation was carried out with the support of the professionals and structure of this laboratory.
- Electronic Health Record: Integrated system that facilitates data access for epidemiological and clinical studies.
- Telemedicine Systems: Implementation of solutions for consultation, remote monitoring, and distance education, with opportunities for the development of innovative projects with data science and the use of wearable devices.
Specialized Human Resources
- Corpo Clínico de Excelência: Médicos e equipes multiprofissionais da saúde, pesquisadores e professores altamente qualificados que lideram projetos de pesquisa e inovação.
- Engenheiros Clínicos, Tecnólogos e cientistas de dados: Especialistas que atuam no desenvolvimento, avaliação e incorporação de novas tecnologias em saúde assessoram os membros do PPG nos projetos científico-tecnológicos.
- Técnicos de Pesquisa: os laboratórios de pesquisa institucionalmente vinculados ao PPG (Laboratórios de Investigação Médica) possuem funcionários técnicos próprios e vinculados à superintendência dos LIMs da FMUSP: Silvana Cerejido Altran, bióloga no LIM-04; Bruno Conceição do Rosario, técnico de laboratório no LIM-04; Renata Oliveira Conceição, técnico de laboratório no LIM-04; Gilberto de Mello Nascimento, técnico de laboratório no LIM-08; Débora Rothestein Ramos Maia, bióloga no LIM-08. Além dos técnicos de pesquisa, o PPG conta com a colaboração de equipes de enfermagem, fisioterapia, fonoaudiologia, engenharia e funcionários administrativos e de serviços gerais que colaboram com os projetos.
- Médico Veterinário: responsável pela gerência dos projetos no LIM-08-Anestesiologia e assessoria sobre anestesia em animais de experimentação dos demais laboratórios do PPG, Dra. Denise Aya Otsuki, médica veterinária especializada em Cirurgia e Anestesiologia.
- Estatísticos: consultores que prestam serviços especializados e são remunerados por projeto pelo centro de estudos da Disciplina de Anestesiologia (CEDAR): J.S.A Serviços de Informática Ltda (Silvia Lamas); S.E.I. – soluções Estatísticas Inteligentes (Nara Spall); e José de Oliveira Siqueira;
- Enfermeiros de Pesquisa: uma enfermeira coordenadora das atividades (Suely Pereira Zeferino, doutora em ciências e vinculada à Divisão de Anestesia do Instituto do Coração, responsável pelo auxílio na captação de recursos junto às agências de fomento), colabora com os docentes e discentes na operacionalização dos projetos e coordena os demais enfermeiros de pesquisa que participam dos projetos;
- Farmacêuticos de Pesquisa: consultores vinculados ao Centro de Pesquisa Clínica que prestam serviços especializados e são remunerados por projeto.
- Profissionais para Apoio Administrativo: O PPG dispõe de 01 coordenador administrativo com formação de bacharelado em Direito (Israel Rodrigues de Oliveira) e 02 auxiliares administrativos (Vitor de Melo Cremasco e Sandra Regina Marques da Silva), que são responsáveis pelas atividades administrativas próprias do Programa de Pós-Graduação, além da gerência do fluxo dos projetos científico-tecnológicos do Programa junto às Comissões de Ética em Pesquisa, parcerias com empresas e Agências de Fomento.
Research Ethics Committees
PPG members have access to the following institutional RECs (Research Ethics Committees):
- CAPPesq (Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo): Projects to be carried out at the Institutes of the Hospital das Clínicas are submitted to this REC. The REC has its own digital platform (Project Management System – SGP) for project submission, and the committee meetings are bi-weekly.
- CEUA-FMUSP (Ethics Committee for the Use of Animals of the Faculty of Medicine of USP): Separated from CEP-FMUSP in 2013 by determination of the National Research Ethics Commission, it began to analyze projects that use animals provided by Biotério-FMUSP or other external suppliers to the Institution and/or collected Material.
- CEP-HU (Research Ethics Committee of the University Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of USP): Research Projects to be carried out at the University Hospital of the University of São Paulo are submitted to this REC. Projects approved by any of these RECs were registered in the Sucupira Report with their respective identification acronyms. When necessary, communication with CONEP and ANVISA is carried out by the RECs corresponding to the specific Projects. Projects that do not require evaluation by the CEP/CONEP system or projects that will be carried out externally and have already been evaluated by RECs of other Institutions are evaluated only by the Research Committee of the Department of Surgery. For pre-qualification to the Program, the candidate and their future advisor must present an approved project, either by the REC or only by the Department of Surgery, as the case may be. The processes for evaluating research projects are in the final phase of transitioning from paper-based analysis to fully online, and IT resources contribute to good research practices by allowing the management of the flow of projects in the Research Ethics Committees and in the CEP-CONEP system. In 2024, the PPG started working with 36 projects and concluded 04, ending with 32 active projects. The PPG has trained staff to assist faculty and students in the processes and flows of submission and communication with the Research Ethics Committees (RECs) and registration of clinical research projects on the Brazil Platform and the Rebec (Brazilian Registry of Clinical Studies) and ClinicalTrials.gov platforms. The discipline "Methodological Bases of Scientific Research" addresses the topic of good practices in research and trains students in the use of the respective platforms. Some faculty, students, and alumni of the Program participate as members of the RECs.
Didactic / Pedagogical Spaces
The PPG has its own room with structural, audiovisual, and teleconferencing resources that allows for hybrid or in-person meetings for up to 10 people. FMUSP has a sufficient number of specific rooms to meet the PPG's needs regarding in-person, hybrid, or distance education (EAD) activities. Prior actions for EAD proved useful in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Following guidelines from the USP Pro-Rectory for Research and Innovation and the FMUSP Graduate Commission, in-person dissertation defenses were temporarily suspended, being held only with the presence of the student and advisor at FMUSP, with remote participation of the examining committee members. This process facilitated the participation of foreign partners and those from other Institutions on the committees. Similarly, courses began to be taught remotely, using the "collaborative learning" methodology and minimizing the impact of the epidemic on student progress and the PPG's overall activities. In-person activities resumed in 2023.
International Relations Office
The Program receives advisory support from the International Relations Committee (CRint) of FMUSP, which is linked to the International Relations Committee of USP. Processes involving international partnerships, as well as the mobility of faculty and students, are handled with the assistance of the professionals at the CRint office located within the Faculty of Medicine.
Animal Facility
Experiments utilizing mice, rats, hamsters, and rabbits receive the animals directly from the animal facility of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, which possesses the structure and resources recommended by current legislation. In experiments with pigs, which according to the legislation of the city of São Paulo cannot be raised in an urban environment, the animals are supplied by a farm previously registered by the laboratories and delivered to the animal facility the day before the experiment, in compliance with all guidelines for the experimental use of animals.
Clinical Research Management Center
The Clinical Research Management Center (CPC) is linked to the Research and Innovation Committee of FMUSP and has a significant presence at the Heart Institute, Cancer Institute, and Central Institute of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of USP, each location having dedicated physical space and staff, as well as PPG-specific personnel. In addition to supporting PPG projects, the CPC also facilitates the development of collaborative projects with the Pharmaceutical and Equipment Industry. The center offers meeting rooms, document research rooms, and a researcher's room, all equipped with IT infrastructure and internet access. The CPC also has refrigerators for the storage of study medications, with specific control over receipt, storage, and dispensing of project-related samples. The center is integrated with institutional clinical specialties, which enables it to provide multidisciplinary care and medical assistance for adverse events that may occur during the course of the projects.
Libraries and Information Support Infrastructure
The PPG has access to the libraries of the Faculty of Medicine and other Units of the University of São Paulo, with virtual and in-person access to various collections of interest to Program members, including the Derwent Innovations Index from Clarivate for patent consultation, and the Overton Platform, as described below. Additionally, the PPG has its own thematic libraries within the physical areas of the Disciplines of the Department of Surgery or Services to which Program members are linked. The collections of these small libraries were acquired and expanded with funding resources or received as donations. Internet access allows broad local access to specific databases for conducting bibliographic and intellectual property research. In the Program's mandatory Discipline (MAN5728 - Methodological Bases of Scientific Research), students receive technical training with specialized professionals in the use of databases useful in the development of research projects. PPG students, faculty, and collaborators have access to the CAPES journal portal in laboratories and libraries. Via the Ovid platform, connection to the Library of the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology is possible, which provides the main journals in the specialty of anesthesiology. In addition to CAPES Journals, expanded virtual access to other bibliographic databases is provided by the University, allowing access to journals related to the Program's LACTs. Any bibliographic references not accessed by the above alternatives can be requested in person or by email to be provided by the Institutional Libraries.
Recently, the FMUSP Library began offering services related to access to the Overton Database. Developed in the United Kingdom, Overton covers a collection of 18 million documents from 190 countries and over 44,000 NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, allowing demonstration of how science influences government decisions. It is currently the largest platform for tracking the impact of academic production on public policies, mapping the interactions between scientific and technological production and the implementation of these public policies, as well as identifying the productions that are cited in these documents. The University of São Paulo's Agency for Libraries and Digital Collections (ABCD) aims to integrate information management, intellectual production, and libraries, aligning them with the institution's strategic objectives. ABCD, which serves all of USP's Graduate Programs, operates systematically with the university's 64 libraries, linked to Units, Institutes, Centers, Museums, and Provost Offices. These libraries offer essential services and products for the education and updating of the academic community, in addition to serving the external public. They provide welcoming and suitable environments for study, learning, and research, maintaining high-quality print collections and facilitating access to digital content. The collections can be consulted directly in the libraries or online (https://www.abcd.usp.br/), through the Integrated Search Portal and the USP Bibliographic Database – Dedalus. These resources allow access to bibliographic records of books, journals, theses and dissertations, as well as event papers, catalogs, films, iconographies, newspapers, pamphlets, and other materials, whenever possible with access to the full text. According to 2023 data, the available collections include: over 576,750 electronic books and 2,469,237 printed ones, 6,462,117 theses and dissertations in digital format and 274,010 in printed format, 135,132 online journal titles with 10,810,560 issues, and 74,675 printed journal titles with 5,078,082 issues, more than 600,000 multimedia and others, totaling 17,849,882 items that make up the electronic collection and 8,436,189 items that make up the print collection.
This entire collection is available to USP graduate students and advisors virtually or in person at the campus libraries. The Theses and Dissertations Database (https://www.teses.usp.br/) provides the full digital version of the Dissertations defended in the PPG.
The USP Agency for Academic Information Management (AGUIA) is the University body responsible for aligning information management and annually publishes the Statistical Yearbook, an online publication that presents the main indicators related to the University's core activities related to undergraduate, graduate, research and innovation, culture and university extension, and inclusion and belonging, and the presentation of important information about university management. There is an institutional agreement (USP or HCFMUSP) for the use of the following virtual research support platforms: CAPES Journals, REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) to support the quality of databases; Grammarly for improving writing in English; Turnitin for identifying text similarity; EndnoteWeb, Zotero, and Mendeley for the elaboration of bibliographic reference databases and for statistical analysis (SPSS). There is also the possibility of restricted access to Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Eric, among others. The librarians of the FMUSP Library provide regular training in the use of research and innovation support tools, such as access to databases, access to patent databases, and regular workshops on the use of bibliographic reference software, and students are encouraged to use them. FMUSP publishes the standards for writing dissertations and theses, which can be accessed by students directly on the library's website. Before the dissertation defense, students receive direct assistance from library professionals for the preparation of the catalog card and for the processes related to the deposit of the Dissertation in the USP Theses and Dissertations Database (https://www.teses.usp.br/).
Access to the World Wide Web and Communication among Program Members:
The program has a sufficient number of computers with internet access freely available to faculty and students, including access to institutional WiFi networks (USP and HC), with specialized technical support. All PPG members have access to an institutional email address. Software is available to assist in the elaboration of projects, data collection, preparation of presentations, development of databases, specific software for statistical analysis, bibliographic reference management, and self-checking of similarity. USP provides tools for Disciplines (e-Disciplinas and Classroom), Dissertation Defenses (Meet, Zoom, and Conference Web), and non-face-to-face Selection Processes, and the Faculty of Medicine provides a specific platform for discussion forums, which can be used by program faculty using a personal password. There is the possibility of access to the Moodle platform (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) to assist in the Program's teaching activities. There is an institutional agreement with Google that allows the use of Google Classroom, a platform that helps faculty in creating and organizing tasks and providing feedback to students, optimizing communication in the activities of disciplines and in student guidance. The Institution has hospital information systems (HIS) that allow regulated access to electronic patient records, laboratory and imaging exams. The Hospital das Clínicas of FMUSP participates in the international REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) consortium of Vanderbilt University (Tennessee, USA) and provides faculty and students with the data capture platform that is guided by metadata and workflow methodology, giving robustness and reliability to the data collected in scientific research. The Program is associated with RNP (National Education and Research Network) and RUTE (University Network for Telemedicine, a social organization linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications) through the SIG (Special Interest Group) of Anesthesiology, proposed and coordinated by PPG faculty. In meetings using the RUTE technological solution, multicenter studies of BRANCA (Brazilian Network for Research on Complications in Anesthesia) are discussed with researchers from different locations in Brazil. Access to SIG-Anesthesiology at RUTE/RNP can be found at https://rute.rnp.br/web/sig-anestesiologia. There is a specific resource from CEDAR (Center for Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Studies) for the maintenance and continuous updating of the Program's website data on the internet, as well as for the subscription to the Zoom platform. In addition to official communication via institutional email, the Program has institutional landline extensions and its own cell phone with the WhatsApp application to expedite the activities of the PPG secretariat and the additional dissemination of dissertation defenses to the student group. Informal communication through the WhatsApp group that includes students and the PPG coordination is considered a type of EAD and collaborative learning. In addition to facilitating the integration and networking of the student body, general interest publications for graduate students related to the Professional Master's and technological and general innovation are disseminated and discussed on this dedicated platform. Another WhatsApp group includes PPG advisors and collaborators and is used to reinforce and expedite communication made by emails and discussion of general issues related to the PPG, optimizing the technical-scientific collaboration environment.
The USP Information Technology Park, managed by the Superintendence of Information Technology (STI), houses 76 information subsystems that serve 178,983 users and manage 2,089,025 academic and administrative processes annually, in addition to 227,774 email accounts that occupy 13.76 Petabytes of disk space. The infrastructure includes 170 external Wi-Fi devices and 844 km of optical fiber. The STI computational cloud has 14 Petabytes of storage, 11,100 processing cores, and 250 Terabytes of RAM, with high-performance clusters (HPC) such as Águia and Lince. In 2024 alone, STI coordinated the acquisition of 6,376 internal and 316 external Wi-Fi access points, as well as 30 controllers, for the modernization of the wireless network on campuses, complementing the distribution of 31,550 microcomputers and other technology equipment. Graduate students, advisors, and others involved in graduate studies directly benefit from these information systems, which are fundamental to optimizing their academic and administrative activities, providing greater efficiency and agility in their processes.
Program Funding and Financial Resource Acquisition
INOVATEC has an action plan to stimulate the search for partnerships with companies and Institutions that can foster projects related to students' dissertations.
The PPG's fundraising during the four-year period occurred directly through the Departments or through actions mediated by the Study Centers linked to the Disciplines to which the PPG advisors belong. Resources were obtained from: 1) Funding of scholarships for scientific initiation projects by governmental funding agencies; 2) Holding university extension events; 3) Publication of books related to LACTs; 4) Receipt of parliamentary amendments; 5) Use of resources from institutional support foundations (Fundação Zerbini and Fundação Faculdade de Medicina); 6) Use of institutional technical reserve (RTI) from FAPESP.
PPG Faculty are encouraged to seek partnerships with companies for project funding, as well as to request parliamentary amendments for specific projects and to hold continuing education events that result in financial resources for PPG actions. University extension activities such as courses, workshops, and congresses held made it possible to charge external audiences for registration and to obtain donations from companies such as the pharmaceutical industry, equipment manufacturers, and material suppliers. In addition to supporting scientific-technological projects related to student dissertations, these resources ensured the maintenance of the Program's website, the in-person participation of external guests on dissertation defense committees, and the payment of costs for the execution of partnership agreements with companies.
The resources raised by the Departments' Study Centers occurred mainly through actions mediated by CEDAR (Center for Studies in Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, with its own CNPJ – attached document – and linked to the Anesthesiology Discipline of FMUSP) and ensured the financial sustainability of the PPG during the four-year period. The resulting financial resources guaranteed payment for the maintenance of the Program's website, the in-person participation of external guests on dissertation defense committees, as well as the execution of partnership agreements with companies and small grants for the scientific-technological projects of some students.
The fundraising description includes some of the amounts raised in 2020, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were effectively used in the current four-year period. The use of these grants was related to activities for the physical structural improvement of the PPG, support for scientific-technological projects, and maintenance of the Program's website on the internet, as described below:
- PROJECT NAME: Development of a PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia) module for Infusion Pump; SOURCE: Samtronic Company (through Fundação Faculdade de Medicina); SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: José Otávio Costa Auler Júnior for a student project who is in the process of enrolling in the PPG; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2020-2024 (contract signed in 2020 and project began to be implemented after the end of the pandemic); AMOUNT: R$30,000.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Scholarship for student; SOURCE: NGO Smile Train Brazil, through the CEDAR Study Center; SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Marcelo Luiz Abramides Torres, advisor of student Fernando Brito Cançado; SCOPE: national cooperation; DURATION: 03/01/2024 to 02/29/2025; AMOUNT: R$66,000.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Evaluation of Cav 2.2 regulation, Cava2d subunits, and the involvement of opioid receptors in hypersensitivity and neuronal hyperexcitability in experimental herpetic and post-herpetic neuralgia; SOURCE: Regular FAPESP Grant: 2020/15943-1; SELECTION PROCESS: continuous; GRANTED TO: Camila Squarzoni Dale is the responsible researcher; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 03/01/2022 to 08/31/2024; AMOUNT: R$ 105,403.00 and US$ 8,919.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Characterization and development of new modulators of TrkA and PKMzeta pathways in inflammatory and chronic pain; SOURCE: FAPESP Thematic Project 19/06982-6; SELECTION PROCESS: continuous; GRANTED TO: Camila Squarzoni Dale is the principal investigator of a project granted to Deborah Schechtman (same HEI); SCOPE: national; DURATION: 02/01/2020 to 01/31/2026; AMOUNT: R$514,000.00 and US$158,000.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Development of a subcutaneous implant project for analgesia; SOURCE: Mudjala Medical Inc. Company (http://www.mudjalamedical.com/); SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Camila Squarzoni Dale; SCOPE: international cooperation; DURATION: Contract signed in the previous four-year period and project implemented in this four-year period; AMOUNT: US$ 9,900.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Implementation of the Training Center in Minimally Invasive Procedures (PROMIN) of the Faculty of Medicine of USP; SOURCE: Parliamentary Amendment from Federal Deputy (SP) Rodrigo Gambale; SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Everson Luiz de Almeida Artifon, via the Department of Surgery of FMUSP (Full Professor José Pinhata Otoch) for the optimization of physical structure to be used by the Program; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2024; AMOUNT: R$500,000.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Implementation of the Training Center in Minimally Invasive Procedures (PROMIN) of the Faculty of Medicine of USP; SOURCE: donation received from Henrique Prata (Hospital do Amor de Barretos, SP); SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Everson Luiz de Almeida Artifon, via the Department of Surgery of FMUSP (Full Professor José Pinhata Otoch) for the optimization of the physical structure to be used in the PPG's scientific-technological projects; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2024; AMOUNT: Donation of a DaVinci Si/Intuitive int. surgical robot with an approximate value of R$7,000,000.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Receipt of copyrights; SOURCE: Atheneu Publisher; SELECTION PROCESS: continuous; GRANTED TO: José Otávio Costa Auler Júnior representing himself and DPs Marcelo Luiz Abramides Torres and Maria José Carvalho Carmona, with resources that contribute to the maintenance of the Program's website on the internet; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2021-2024; AMOUNT: R$ 13,643.99.
- PROJECT NAME: Construction and maintenance of website related to Dissertation project; SOURCE: Cristália Company; SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Marcelo Luiz Abramides Torres, advisor of the dissertation project; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2023-2024; AMOUNT: Donation of employee work hours for website construction (estimated value of R$10,000.00) and R$1,440.00 for website maintenance of the product derived from a student's Dissertation.
- PROJECT NAME: Optimization of intraoperative monitoring in high surgical risk patients; SOURCE: parliamentary amendment (bloc amendment); SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: José Otávio Costa Auler Júnior (applicant) with institutional grant via Fundação Faculdade de Medicina; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2024; AMOUNT: R$ 200,000.00 (CG 87.397 - SES-TA7-Conv. 1626/18 - SES INC. MAC. ANEST).
- PROJECT NAME: Implementation of a Usability Center; SOURCE: FAPESP (via RTI - Institutional Technical Reserve); SELECTION PROCESS: university; GRANTED TO: Roger Chammas (institutional grant) for applicant Maria José Carvalho Carmona via the Technological Innovation Center of the Central Institute for the implementation of the Usability Center within LEPIC (Laboratory of Teaching, Research and Innovation in Surgery) of the Hospital das Clínicas of FMUSP; SCOPE: national; DURATION: 2023/2025; AMOUNT: R$125,727.88.
- PROJECT NAME: Latin American study of surgical outcomes in pediatric patients (LASOS-Peds); SOURCE: NGO Smile Train International, through Smile Train Brazil and Fundação Zerbini; SELECTION PROCESS: competitive; GRANTED TO: Vinícius Caldeira Quintão, for a postdoctoral project supervised by DP Maria José Carvalho Carmona; SCOPE: international cooperation; DURATION: 2023-2026; AMOUNT: US$51,650.00.
- PROJECT NAME: Support for the implementation of the INOVATEC Professional Master's Program; SOURCE: CEDAR, Study Center of the Anesthesiology Discipline; SELECTION PROCESS: university, continuous; GRANTED TO: DPs José Otávio Costa Auler Jr, Marcelo Luiz Abramides Torres, Maria José Carvalho Carmona, and Matheus Facchini Vane; SCOPE: local; DURATION: 2023-2026; AMOUNT: R$48,800.00.
Therefore, the total funds raised amounted to R$1,479,286.00 and US$228,469.00, not considering donations of equipment and services, with the following distribution among the faculty:
- Camila Squarzoni Dale: fundraising for 03 projects, totaling R$619,403.00 and US$166,999.90.
- Everson Luiz de Almeida Artifon: fundraising of a parliamentary amendment in the amount of R$500,000.00 in conjunction with Full Professor of the Surgical Technique Discipline José Pinhata Otoch. Receipt of donation in the form of equipment with an approximate value of R$7,000,000.00.
- José Otávio Costa Auler Júnior: fundraising of R$243,643.99 and R$48,800.00 shared with DPs MLAT and MJCC.
- Marcelo Luiz Abramides Torres: fundraising of R$66,000.00 as a student scholarship and R$1,440.00 for website maintenance of a dissertation product, and donation of services for website construction with an approximate value of R$10,000.00.
- Maria José Carvalho Carmona: fundraising of R$125,727.88 as resources from FAPESP's institutional technical reserve (RTI). Together with the postdoctoral fellow, raised US$51,650.00 for project execution.
Strategic Partnerships
- University-Industry Collaboration: Partnerships with pharmaceutical, biotechnological, and medical device companies to develop and validate new technologies. Some of these partnerships are of interest to the PPG and may result in specific agreements;
- Funding Agencies: Funding for innovative projects through specific calls for proposals related to innovation. One student's project during the four-year period was approved for PIPE-FAPESP;
- Startup Support: Support for the development of healthcare startups, including the incubation and acceleration of innovative projects. ABSS (Brazilian Association of Healthcare Startups) is supported and has its administrative structure located within InovaHC;
- International Partnerships: several partnerships in the implementation phase. The partnership with Prof. Luis Velez Lapão, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, allowed for the registration of the software related to the dissertation of student Victor Sapountzakis Ribeiro.
Administrative Infrastructure Supporting the Program
INOVATEC has dedicated administrative space, located in room 4107, with an area of 34 m², within the FMUSP building. The meeting room is equipped with a table with 10 chairs, a computer connected to a 52-inch screen, and multimedia resources for online meetings.