Last Saturday, the RISE Consortium– Health Research Network was singled out in a piece by RTP1. This is a pioneering initiative in the country and it connects two medical schools, a hospital unit and four research centres. The aim is to create a large laboratory that joins Porto and Lisbon, in order to foster medical research with high applicability in clinical practice and in the community.

RISE focuses on cardiovascular sciences, cancer, and inflammatory and degenerative diseases. “Science is open, it is global. See what we are going through now and the way how science has brought solutions to such a serious a problem”, said Fausto Pinto, Director of one of the two medical schools, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

The RISE Associate Laboratory will bring together more than 220 Ph.D. holder researchers and 120 Ph.D. students. More than half of these professionals are doctors, nurses or other health professionals, making it possible to create circuits and direct research answers for the lives of patients, as well as for institutions, companies and policy makers.

“Basic research is conducted, there is the opportunity to test clinically in hospitals, for example, and then take this research knowledge to the community through health centres”, according to Fernando Schmitt, Coordinator of the RISE Consortium. He added that at the same time, health centres will be able to note in the community what is needed, taking this information back to laboratories and hospitals.

It will also be possible to carry out more clinical trials and partnerships that will make it possible to expand technology and digitalization of data.