Still far from reaching adulthood, news@fmul is now a teenager, transformed and renewed. It keeps part of its legacy through the people who were involved in it for some years, but new ones came in with their personalities that are still fitting into the existing matrices. To celebrate the occasion, we bring you the persons that today constitute the editorial team formed only by women. In this balanced mix between past and present, we all work without ever forgetting that this project has a little bit of everyone who has been involved in it.

This is us:

 

 

Catarina Monteiro – at FMUL for 1 year, she manages the Design Area of the Communication Office, writes for the News and works the visual component

 “The days before publication are always chaotic. The energy in the Communications Office rises and no one stops. Whether finishing interviews, proofreading texts or preparing the final submission, they all take their positions and carry out their tasks. It is incredible and gratifying to see the energy in that room!

As a newcomer to the News team, I can say how I admire the creativity of those who, every month, manage to bring new and broad themes to this “digital magazine”. Personally, I am learning a lot about how each issue is built. Starting with loose ideas that come together in an editorial note that determines the tone of that issue, either by interviewing outstanding personalities from the FMUL universe or by interacting with students and giving them space to expose their activities.

I can't help but thank Joana who invited me, in February of this year, to write my first report for the News. And then, in March, she insisted that I  wrote an article.

Whether with images or texts, I hope I can continue to contribute to the News and work with the fantastic team that takes care of this little digital corner of FMUL.”

 

 

Cristina Bastos – at FMUL for 3 years, she works in the HR and Communication area, writes for the News and manages translations and uploads

“I had been working at FMUL for just over 3 months when Ana Raquel Moreira and Rui Gomes invited me to join the editorial team of the Newsletter of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. It was with great pleasure that I accepted.

My first participation was in February 2017.

I remember the first articles and the first interview I did, I was just as nervous as when I had an oral examination in the Civil Procedural Law subject.

I was there when the Editorial Team had just a very small number of people, but, the truth is, there has never been a missed issue. Whether more or less complete, at the end of the month a new issue is published.

Being involved in this project has proven to be a very enriching experience, and I have grown very fond of it.

And I am so proud to see it grow!

Congratulations to us all!”

 

 

Isabel Varela – at FMUL for 4 years, she works in the Communication Area  and manages the website and the Newsletter’s platform.

“I particularly recall the late afternoon of 30 October of last year. It must have been around 6:45 pm, I was alone in the office and in remote contact with the programmer. Issue #94 of the Newsletter was closed. It would be the first time that the FMUL Newsletter was published  in the new platform, however, there was a problem: in order to schedule the massive sending of the Newsletter to our subscribers, we needed to know the share of emails sent per hour that the University of Lisbon allowed. I ran the risk of generating a blackout on the server if I overloaded it with an excessive number of emails per hour.

After a lot of "ruminating", a few less pleasant phone calls later, and a lot of external help, I discovered that I could only send 275 emails at the same time per hour. Whew! It was sorted out... The sending out could be done and it went like this: 275 emails per hour sent out, until the sending to about 8 thousand subscribers was completed.

That day, I got home late. I had nothing to eat, nor the desire to cook, but the sense of accomplishment replaced any need for food. And why was that so? Because all day I felt a huge burden on me, the burden of responsibility. Together with the editorial team, I embraced the duty to continue a project so cherished by everyone. And I myself became fond of  the Newsletter.

Regardless of its new face or the teams that lead it, I strongly believe that the Newsletter should be continued for 3 simple reasons:

1. in an institution like ours, vast in m², in human capital and in ideas, it is imperative to have a project that connects us all. The Newsletter is, without a doubt, a union tool.
2. It is also an excellent archive and search tool. How many of us use the Newsletter to be sure of the protagonists, the time and space of some events?
3. It is, without doubt, a channel that distinguishes us from other Faculties and that characterizes us as an organization.

I was not present at its beginning, I do not know its end, but I can make my contribution to its continuation. I will do so.”

 

 

Joana Sousa – at FMUL for 2 years, she manages the contents of the Newsletter and the Communication Area

It's the people… it's always the people

“I joined the Faculty to give some assistance with the contents of the Newsletter.

I don't know anything about Medicine or Health to be able to write about it”, I thought reluctantly and with the usual prejudice of those who have not yet exposed themselves to a new challenge.

I joined the Faculty convinced it would be a short stay, just to increase my range of contacts, but a new world has opened up.

I do not forget the day when I went down the stairs of the Hospital and a tall lady with short hair, discreet black clothing and who commanded respect passed me by. She was accompanied by other people who greeted her with a formal tone that I never got used to. I asked if that lady they called Professor was German. No, she t wasn't, I was told. I loved her name, Maria do Carmo. And as I also felt she commanded respect, I couldn’t wait to meet her.

Of the countless people I wanted to interview, there was always some paternalism from the older ones, used to the rhythms of the big public institutions, “go slowly, people are a bit formal”. And I would go, always slowly, but always trying to go one step further than the one that should have been established. Sometimes I went in shaking, almost always I left with a smile and never regretted trying to peek at whoever was in front of me. I have always been after people and their academic, medical, scientific background, as staff, or students. But it was always the people that I went looking for, the look that betrays the discipline of words, or the answer that gets stuck because one did not expect to hear the question that no one would remember to ask because it is personal.

Suddenly, people were joking about who would be the next person to be interviewed and what exposure they would allow. But it was never the free exposure that I sought, not least because the interlocutors are sufficiently intelligent to draw clear limits to what is said. When I met people, I got to know a much richer universe and that made me a better person.

We were able to talk about fears, affections, the most controversial opinions and created bonds. Some will not be broken anymore because there was an exchange of emotions that cannot be written about, but that are trusted. “No, I really liked the interview, but it's not quite academic…”, I am told, it is understandable. As with the team we joke, “Joana, we are going ahead because you spend ages going along that corridor”.

The world is not commonly seen in this way, it is as if it did not dignify the other by exposing him to his own vulnerability. In the newsletter, a new space was opened that is “on this side” and that is not only about lesser-known faces, it is about people, everyone, and what they really are, who they want to honour, who they fight for, what they regret, or the barrier of what they want to show.

Life lesson, exercise of diplomacy and maximum observation of the human being from all his quieter angles, the Newsletter only got here because many brought it in their hands with a commitment as if it were the embryo of a more exclusive or collective will. But it was the will and commitment of many that has allowed me today to be part of the group that continues it.

A new cycle has begun, a cycle that one of these days will end. But they are all moments of the same life that I hope will never be lost sight of, for the years of life and lives that it will continue to show.

Because if it's not about people, what matters then?”

 

 

Maria de Lurdes Barata – at FMUL for 25 years, she works in the Library Area, has been writing for the Newsletter for 5 years and conducts the major research and historical articles

100 issues of FMUL’s Newsletter

 

"In April 2015, I was offered the challenge of joining the FMUL newsletter’s team. I admit that at first I was a little apprehensive, since communication is not my area. However, I am by nature adept at new challenges and always try to do my best, so I accepted the invitation. This enabled me to meet other colleagues who worked in other sectors of the Faculty, expand my knowledge and understand the various procedures that have to be carried out before the newsletter reaches its readers.

I am infinitely grateful for the welcome I received and the way I was integrated into the team, despite my inexperience. I recall the dedication and commitment of everyone in the various stages of creating each issue of the newsletter: scheduling meetings, choosing the news that should appear in the next issue, proofreading texts. And also the stress at the end of each month, so that the newsletter could be published on the proposed date, since we all worked in other areas of the Faculty.

At the beginning of last year, there was the opportunity to prepare a short historical article to be published in each issue (according to the main theme of each newsletter). This project gives me great satisfaction because, in addition to researching several documentary sources in detail, it aims to offer our readers the opportunity to know or recall some of the events that occurred in the area of health, or medical personalities and their achievements, which are often unknown to some of us. There is also the opportunity to highlight many of the publications in the magnificent collection of the Library of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

Our Newsletter, which belongs to all of us, reaches its 100th issue…  may a further 100 come with even more attractive projects."

 

 

Sofia Tavares – she joined FMUL’s Communication Area to produce content for the News and the website

"As the most recent member of this editorial team, I promise to continue the work of excellence that has been conducted throughout these 100 issues, in order to meet the expectations and reputation of the centenary School that the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon is. It is an honour to be part of a team that strives for dedication and professional pride. I also emphasize the privilege and gratitude to be able, day after day, to learn from the best specialists in the field of Science and Health that this work offers me.

A thank you to all."

 

 

Sónia Teixeira – at FMUL for 5 years, she works in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Office daily and has been writing for the News for 1 year.

“I was invited to join the News@Fmul team in the beginning of 2019, which I accepted with great joy and honour. I love the communication area, and at FMUL we are fortunate and pleased to have excellent and dedicated professionals who, with a great spirit of mutual help, do everything to enable us to bring everyone the news of what unites us: FMUL. It has been a fantastic journey, where I have explored areas I did not know so much about, and it has been an excellent experience backed by all the support and knowledge of my “partners in crime”. I have been following the changes and developments of the News over time, and, with or without constraints, changes, adaptations, growing up pains, it has always been around to register the remarkable moments occurring in our home. The Newsletter has been growing thanks to the effort, dedication and resilience of all the people who have worked in it. Congratulations to News@FMUL and also to all the people who have been involved from the beginning and made it what it is now, our newsletter. And let us make a toast to the next 100 issues!”