Graduate class of the international course at FMUSP.

The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the Tordesillas Group, an academic network comprised of more than 70 universities from Brazil, Portugal, and Spain, have begun the Medicalization of Living and Suffering: A Public Health Problem international course. Coordinated by the UMH International Doctorate Director, María Pastor, this event is enabling international collaboration in graduate-level education.

This course, which focuses on the medicalization of society via medical control of vital processes, daily suffering, and behavior, is a subject of growing interest among patients and health & social science professionals. It is part of the ongoing activities at the Tordesillas Doctoral School of Public Health and History of Science. Until October 3, it is being given at the University of São Paulo by academics from the different institutions belonging to this doctoral school.

As a strategy to promote science and technology, the Tordesillas Group works with doctoral schools, including the Tordesillas Doctoral School of Public Health and History of Science. The latter was created in 2017 under coordination by the UMH. Its members include the faculties of Medicine and Public Health at the University of São Paulo, along with the faculties of Medicine at the University of Porto and the UMH.

In the two years that the Tordesillas Doctoral School of Public Health and History of Science has existed, it has seen significant academic and scientific achievements between Brazil, Portugal, and Spain. These include mobility actions by seven doctoral students and four faculty members, on stays lasting a month and a half, between the three countries. Seven scientific papers published in high-impact international journals are also indicative of its immediate and direct results.

Furthermore, a student from the Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMUSP), recently completed a stay at the UMH, and this group reached agreement on the dual doctorate between the UMH and FMUSP, in which the Vice Rectorate for International Relations collaborates. Two other international seminars are worth noting; one that took place last year at the FMUSP, in addition to another planned for November 2019 at the UMH.

Up to now, the Tordesillas Doctoral School of Public Health and History of Science has received specific funding from its member institutions in addition to additional funding from the Santander Universidades Foundation and Carolina Foundation.

For further information about the activities at the Tordesillas Doctoral School of Public Health and History of Science, you may click on this link.