Living April is to refresh our memory with basic concepts of equality and freedom: freedom of thought, choice, opinion or simply, freedom to create something new.
In Portugal, 47 years ago, we marked the month of April with carnations, captains, radio voices, political songs, organizations and liberating movements. In 2021, it is impressive how we continue our achievements. Here, in our home, we have the freedom to take care of and remember who is important to us, what makes us celebrate days that deserve due mention: the national day of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the world physical activity day - where we highlight the role that FMUL has been playing in this area with the activity MedFit, World Health Day, with a reflection on health care by our Director, World Day of Parkinson’s Disease - with the comment of Professor Joaquim Ferreira, World Voice Day, International Malaria Day, and, no less relevant, World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
It was also in April that we spoke with Professor Francisco Antunes about a transparent vaccination strategy and we concluded that never like today, we have had so many reasons to celebrate the World Immunization Week.
We gave special emphasis to the concept of leadership with the conference, led by Vice Admiral Silvestre Correia, marking the start of the Operating Theatres Leadership and Perioperative Practice Management course, which reinforced the ties between FMUL and the University of Cambridge. With great symbolism and expectation, we toasted the return of AEFMUL's Cultural Soiree and the Solidarity Race and the launch of the Cardiology Emergencies course.
With our eyes on the future, it was also this month that we attended the Webinar “The STARS Project: an opportunity to develop a data science programme in health and medicine”, and taking advantage of the end of lockdown, we returned to the Faculty where not only classes but also some initiatives took place face-to-face: The Kick-off of the project emotional Cities.
We came to know, in greater detail, the various changes and adaptations that the entire CHULN underwent due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and we gave voice to the most disadvantaged and put the Chagas disease in the spotlight.
Last but not least, and about who those who have the freedom to create, we bring the deserved recognition of professors Mamede de Carvalho and João Costa, two of the winners of the Bial Award for Clinical Medicine 2020.
In April, on equality and freedom, but also on rights and duties, we launched a challenge: “First order spirits, who produce revolutions, disappear; second order spirits, who take advantage of them, remain.” François Chateaubriand.
Isabel Varela and Sónia Teixeira
Editorial Team