In April we focused on the best information. We were attentive to the change and innovation that emerged each day. Even from a distance, we opened the doors of our Faculty through the enlightening FMUL Talks, which enabled us to understand, in detail, various aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. We also took a look at the backstage of the Field Hospital  of the University of Lisbon and invited reflections and opinions of outstanding personalities of our Faculty, who gave different and, at times, disconcerting views. We talked about masks and joined forces in the fight for their mandatory implementation  to reinforce measures to contain the pandemic. We insisted and persisted on the scientific evidence about a protective barrier used by everyone, in order to stop the spread of the virus.

 Professor Francisco Antunes shared his views and knowledge about Covid-19 and Professor Joaquim Ferreira analysed the neurological consequences of the new coronavirus. In  turn, Professor Rui Tato Marinho alluded to the repercussions of the pandemic on colon cancer and the relationship of the disease with the digestive system, while Professor Cristina Bárbara Caetano brought us back to the reality of respiratory patients in Portugal.

This month, we also looked at the pandemic curve and the “peak” of the infection in “Time for scientific rigour”, in a call for attention to the possible carelessness in prevention when the first news with encouraging data were announced.

We looked at the new coronavirus and at the results of the most recent studies and clinical trials in progress; we followed the research work on the serological tests already started at Santa Maria Hospital and we also saw the creation of the Biobanc: a biological bank with samples from patients infected with covid-19.

We shared an instruction manual on homemade masks  and lightened our students' days with challenges  that strengthen ties.

And if there are bonds that get closer, there are others that are broken due to circumstances that we do not control. In April we saw a remarkable figure from Science and our Faculty depart. Maria de Sousa lost the battle against covid-19. Illustrious scientist and prodigious student of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Professor and author of several publications, Maria de Sousa graduated in 1963 and became a world reference in the area of Immunology.

The pandemic stripped the genius of the Professor who taught the best Portuguese scientists, forever remembered for her unmatched brilliance and humanity by all those who met her. So was Maria de Sousa, one of the first Portuguese women internationally recognized for her scientific discoveries, having excelled in the field of immunology, particularly in the study of the functioning of lymphocytes.

 

Still, science was not the only passion in Maria de Sousa's life. Writing has always taken a special place in her life and it was through writing, more precisely in verse, that she left one last message. She wrote her last poem in English, as was usual when she held her pen,  on 3 April. In her words, we see evidence of her poor health. The fading out. And with the energy and vigour of former times slipping through her fingers, Maria de Sousa showed the fragility of the moment in the superb Love letter in a viral pandemic.

 

"Love letter in a viral pandemic
Bagpipes played in Scotland
Tenors sing from balconies in Italy
The dead will not hear them
And the living want to mourn their dead in silence
Who do you want to cheer up?
The children?
But children are also dying
In my circumstances
I can die
Wondering if I will see you again
But before I die
I want you to know
How much I like you
How much I care about you
How much I remember the moments shared and cherished
Moments then
Eternities now
Poetry
Laughter
The sunset
at sea
The feather that the seagull took to our table
Breakfast
Gold cufflinks
The magnolia
The hospital
Pyjama, socks and other cautionary things
All moments then
Eternities now
Because I can die and you will have to live
In your life, the hope of my living"

 

Maria de Sousa
3 april 2020

The poem was published by Quetzal  as a translation  by doctor and poet João Luís Barreto Guimarães

 

Maria de Sousa departed, but her legacy and essence will become history in eternity.

 

Sofia Tavares

Editorial Team