The medical students Flávio Eugenio Polillo Filho and Michel Stockler, from the 4th year of School of Medical Sciences (SMS) of University of Campinas (Unicamp) participated in the Birmingham International Summer School in Biomedical Sciences, for 3 weeks in July 2019. They were rewarded a scholarship, and support by the International Office of Unicamp. This enabled them to study at the University of Birmingham Medical School, attending classes about neurology, communication skills, medical English, research methods, teamwork, inflammation and ageing, clinical trials and diagnostic medicine. Besides lectures the students participated in simulations with patients and clinical skills, for example, how to find the dorsalis pedis pulse in difficult situations with the help of Doppler and experienced the use of ultrasound to verify the carotid flow.

Also, the students were able to deepen their knowledge about the British health system, the National Health System (NHS), hear real life experience from NHS doctors, and conduct simulated experiments on clinical pharmaceutical sciences.

Our students experienced a multicultural environment with undergraduates from more than 50 countries around the world, such as Italy, the United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, China and India.

“The Birmingham International Summer School was an amazing experience overall. It did not only advance our medical knowledge but also it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to make friends from all over the world. We also had the chance to get in touch with British culture, travel around the United Kingdom and experience what it is like to study at a world-class university, which is the University of Birmingham. This experience showed us how well our own Medical School can provide medical education that is internationally competitive, even with limited resources”, told the Unicamp students.

Flávio Polillo was awarded the Best Poster Prize among more than 55 students in the area of Biomedical Sciences with the paper “How close are we to reaching the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets to end the HIV epidemic?”, under the supervision of Dr. Connie Wiskin, professor of the Institute of Clinical Sciences.