It is called HEADS – PhD Programme in Health Data Science, it is the first doctoral programme of its kind in Portugal and it will be taught entirely in English, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), with the support of CINTESIS. The opening session of the 1st edition took place on September 9th.

HEADS is led by Pedro Pereira Rodrigues, principal investigator of CINTESIS –  Center for Health Technology and Services Research and professor of the Department of Community Medicine, Health Information and Decision (MEDCIDS) at FMUP, and it the first doctoral program dedicated to the study of Health Data Sciences in Portugal.

The main objective is clear: “to train professionals and researchers of excellence in health data science, an area where there is increasing funding, both public and institutional (national and international), as well as society itself, where companies in the health sector are deficient and available to welcome these researchers, giving them a high social and economic value for their business activities,” explains the director of the Doctoral Programme.

At the opening session, João Fonseca, director of MEDCIDS, assumed that this is a “forward-looking” Doctoral Programme, bringing together the three major areas of this academic department work – Medical Informatics, Intelligent Data Analysis and Health Policy and Services. Likewise, this new doctorate is juxtaposed with CINTESIS’s research lines.

Also, the director of FMUP, Altamiro da Costa Pereira, pointed out the advantages offered by this Doctoral Programme, which will benefit from a strong connection among FMUP, CINTESIS and the University Hospital Center of São João, as well as other hospitals and health care providers. And he urged the candidates to adopt a proactive attitude that contributes to the interaction among students, teachers and other fellow researchers and fosters a good learning experience.

The lectures and lessons of the first edition of HEADS will start on the 16th. Among the candidates are mainly professionals from the areas of Health, Mathematics and Informatics.