Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (Ribeirão Preto Medical School in Portuguese) is a

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

of the University of São Paulo (USP) located in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1952. It is considered one of the three best medical schools in the country and a premier

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

center. Its main

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

is located in a charming old coffee farm in the outskirts of the city, with a total built area of , including a small lake. It has a central building with the main departments for the basic medical sciences and an adjoining University Hospital, with 847 beds. In 2003, the

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

provided in-patient care to 33,973 persons and out-patient (ambulatory) care to approximately 588,000. All medical care is provided free of charge.

History

The Ribeirão Preto Medical School was the third founded in the state of São Paulo and the first outside the capital. In 1951, the state government supported the creation of the school as a way of promoting a better coverage of physicians to the rapidly growing cities in its hinterland. A committee was formed in the University of São Paulo to study and to propose the new school. A professor from the University, physician and parasitologist Dr.

Zeferino Vaz Zeferino Vaz (May 27, 1908 – February 19, 1981) led the construction, establishment and development of the Unicamp university, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. The main campus is named after Zeferin ...

was nominated as its chairman and later became the Faculty's first dean, remaining until 1964. With great foresight, and against many resistances of the traditional medical academic establishment, he advocated a modern, research-based school, with all professors with full-time dedication. This was unheard of at that time in Brazil: in this Vaz was trying to follow the most successful American medical schools, such as

Johns Hopkins Medical School The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

. Lacking the researchers and professors with the mentality and experience he needed, he resorted to inviting them from Europe and United States. The school campus was established in a beautiful wooded area in the outskirts of Ribeirão Preto, which was formerly the seat of a state technical agricultural school, and before that, a coffee farm. In the beginning, since the city still lacked adequate resources for housing the professors, several

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

s in a

Mediterranean style The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

were built and furnished for free, thus compensating for the relatively small salaries that were paid to them at that time. By means of such drive to excellence, soon the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto achieved prominence and a unique status in Brazil. In 2013, it, along with the São Paulo Research Foundation, made plans to begin testing an HIV vaccine, HIVBr18, in monkeys.

Departments

* Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathogenic Bioagents * Biomechanics Medicine and

Rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

of the Locomotor Apparatus * Biochemistry and Immunology *

Surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

and Anatomy * Internal medicine *

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

* Physiology * Genetics *

Gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

and

Obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

* Social medicine *

Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

* Psychiatry and Medical psychology * Ophthalmology *

Otorhinolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

and Head and Neck Surgery * Pathology and

Pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

Centers and Associations

* CEMEL - Death Verification Service (Medico-legal service, Morgue) * CSE - School Health Center which includes 5 Family Care Units;

Pedreira de Freitas Pedreira may refer to: Brazil * Pedreira, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo state * Pedreira (district of São Paulo), a district of the city of São Paulo * Pedreira River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Amapá * Pedreira Esporte Cl ...

Community Center, in

Cássia dos Coqueiros Cássia dos Coqueiros is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with ...

, Vila Lobato Community Center, in Ribeirão Preto; * Hemocenter (

Hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

) * CAEP - Educational and Psychological Support Center * Centro Acadêmico Rocha Lima (

Student Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

) * Alumni Association

Figures

The School has 273 faculty (48 at full professor, 78 at adjunct professor and 144 at assistant professor levels), and a clerical and technical staff of 448. All faculty has full-time dedication and is research oriented. 531 papers were published in

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

international journals in 2003, and 932 in peer-reviewed national journals. Undergraduate education has 6 years of medical education, with a 2003 enrollment of 806. Degrees were granted till 2003, being 3699 in Medicine, and 236 in Biological Sciences, Medical Modality. Postgraduate education covers 17 areas, granting master and doctoral degrees. The enrollment in 2003 was of 1221 students, of which 677 at the master's level and 544 at doctoral level. It is one of the largest such programs in Latin America. Until 2003, 2060 master degrees and 1360 doctoral degrees were conferred, with a grand total of 3420. It is also one of the best, with 9 areas with a rating between 5 (good) and 7 (excellent) by the Ministry of Education. The medical residency program had 28 programs and 504 physicians.

Notable professors

The Ribeirão Preto Medical School has had a number of important Brazilian scientists and physicians, who contributed a great share to the development of science and technology in Brazil: *

Miguel Rolando Covian Miguel Rolando Covian (September 7, 1913 – February 5, 1992), was an Argentine-Brazilian physiologist, medical educator and writer. Biography Early life and education Covian was born in Rufino, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, on September 7, 1 ...

, professor of Physiology *

Eduardo Krieger Eduardo Moacyr Krieger (born June 27, 1928, Cerro Largo, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian physician, physiologist and scientific leader, current president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Life Krieger was born to a family of German origins, i ...

, professor of cardiovascular physiology, former president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences *

Maurício Rocha e Silva Maurício Oscar da Rocha e Silva (19 September 1910, Rio de Janeiro – 19 December 1983, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and pharmacologist. He discovered bradykinin, an endogenous polypeptide involved ...

, professor of

, discoverer of bradykinin *

Sérgio Henrique Ferreira Sérgio Henrique Ferreira (October 4, 1934 – July 17, 2016) was a Brazilian physician and pharmacologist noted for the discovery of the bradykinin potentiating factor, which led to new and widely used anti- hypertension drugs — the ACE inhibi ...

, professor of Pharmacology, discoverer of the

Bradykinin Potentiating Factor Bradykinin (BK) (Greek brady-, slow; -kinin, kīn(eîn) to move) is a peptide that promotes inflammation. It causes arterioles to dilate (enlarge) via the release of prostacyclin, nitric oxide, and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor and ...

* Warwick Estevam Kerr, professor of Genetics * Lucien Lison, professor of Morphology and one of the founders of histochemistry *

Fritz Köberle Fritz Köberle (October 1, 1910 in Eichgraben, Austria – February 20, 1983) was an Austrian-Brazilian physician, pathologist and scientist, discoverer of the neurogenic mechanism of the chronic phase of Chagas disease, a human parasitic disease ...

, professor of Pathology, proponent of the neurogenic theory of the chronic phase of

Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily ''Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the cou ...

* Hélio Lourenço de Oliveira, professor of Internal medicine, who was also a Dean of the University of São Paulo *

Renato Migliorini Renato Helios Migliorini (June 26, 1926 in Jaú – January 16, 2008 in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist, biochemist and full professor of physiology at the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto of the Universit ...

, professor of physiology *

José Lima Pedreira de Freitas José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

, professor of preventive medicine, epidemiologist and sanitarist, famous for his studies of Chagas disease *

José Moura Gonçalves José Moura Gonçalves (January 5, 1914– October 18,1996), Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist, biochemist and educator, one of the pioneers of biochemistry in the country. Moura Gonçalves studied medicine in Belo Horizonte. While a stude ...

, professor of Biochemistry, discoverer of the protein structure of Bothrops venom *

Maria Carmelo Lico Maria Carmela Lico or Licco (1927–1985) spent most of her research life as a physiologist studying the neural mechanisms of pain at the Department of Physiology of the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (Brazil). Lico produced important ...

, professor of Physiology

Notable alumni

Antonio Palocci Antonio Palocci Filho (born 4 October 1960) is a Brazilian physician and politician, and formerly Chief of Staff of Brazil under President Dilma Rousseff. He was the finance minister of the Brazilian federal government from 1 January 2003 to 27 ...

, politician, former mayor of Ribeirão Preto, former Minister of Economy * Sócrates, former star footballer and Brazilian national captain *

Marco Antonio Zago Marco Antonio Zago (born January 11, 1946, in Birigüi, São Paulo) is a Brazilian physician and prominent medical scientist, who is active in the fields of hereditary diseases of the blood (hemoglobins, clotting, thrombosis), molecular basis of c ...

, hematologist, current president of the Brazilian Research Council *

Gilberto de Nucci Gilberto De Nucci (born 18 March 1958, Campinas) is a noted Brazilian physician, scientist and university professor in the field of pharmacology. Education He was born in Campinas, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. His father was a w ...

, pharmacologist *

Renato M.E. Sabbatini Renato Marcos Endrizzi Sabbatini (born 20 February 1947, Campinas) is a retired professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and at the State University of Campinas Institute of Biology. He received a B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from ...

, neuroscientist, writer and publisher

Gallery

File:FMRP-patologia-s.jpg, Department of Pathology File:FMRP-HC-02s.jpg, University Hospital File:FMRP-moradia-s.jpg, Medical Student Housing File:FMRP-casa-professor-s.jpg, A professor's house File:PortaoFMRPBandeirantes.jpg, Main gates File:FMRP-diretoria.jpg, Administration building

External links

Home page of the Faculty of Medicine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto Research institutes in Brazil Medical schools in Brazil University of São Paulo