Arlindo Ferreira, a GAPIC alumni, was one of the guests of the Research Paths Session - Early career physician scientists of the Research Day, to whom we posed the challenge of taking stock of his participation in this session.
His testimonial is a living example of a career where medical practice and scientific activity complement and enhance each other: «Listening to other colleagues' career paths has always been for me a moment of reflection and vicarious learning about possible ways of thinking about the future. In this Research Day session organized by the GAPIC, it was my turn to make a contribution. Some of the key points in defining a career as a medical scientist is not to forget that being a clinician and a researcher are two complementary roles, but with their own characteristics that deserve specific planning. As such, formal education and training in both clinical medicine and clinical research methods is essential, the same applying to the clear allocation of time for both tasks in order to obtain quality results. It is also relevant to consider that mentoring is an essential condition for growth in both fields and that the ideal clinical mentors are not always the ideal scientific mentors and vice versa. Next, it is important to have the notion that clinical research has several aspects, starting with translational research with a strong laboratory slant, passing through clinical trials in an early or more mature phase and ending with the outcomes research or health services research. Each of these areas has a very different day-to-day life and a different level of integration in clinical medicine. The right area? It is up to you. When to start? As soon as possible. Never forgetting that changing areas is always appropriate, the most difficult is to make the right decision the first time».
Arlindo Ferreira, brief biographical note
Arlindo Ferreira is currently an oncologist and clinical researcher at the Breast Unit of the Champalimaud Foundation and is currently conducting a Ph.D. at FMUL, where he completed the Integrated Master Degree in Medicine 10 years ago. In-house doctor at HSM/CHULN between 2012 and 2018, he did a master degree in clinical research at Universidade Nova de Lisboa/Northeastern University (Boston, USA) and a postgraduate training course in clinical research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, USA) in 2014-2015.
A clinical researcher at the iMM from 2014 to 2018, and at the Gustave Roussy Institute (Paris, France) in 2018-2019, he has conducted clinical research in breast cancer with a focus on survivors and outcomes research of breast cancer patients, using statistical analysis, data modelling and translational hypothesis construction.
His current interests are real-world evidence, quality of life, clinical trials and data science applied to medicine.
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