The Postgraduate Program (PPG) in Experimental and Comparative Pathology (PEC) belongs to the Department of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ) of University of São Paulo (USP).
The Program was approved by the Postgraduate Chamber of USP in 1978 in Master and Doctoral levels. The Program has a concept 6 at Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and offers its students research grants, both in master and doctoral level. The grants are offered by CAPES, by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
The PPG-PEC selects students with different backgrounds in the biological field, due to strong interaction with different areas of basic research such as pathology, pharmacology, toxicology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, parasitology and cell biology; as well as areas of applied research, with emphasis on: animal production, reproduction and nutrition; animal behavior; environmental pathology; pathology of wild animals; veterinary oncology, forensic veterinary medicine and cell therapy.
The results of the scientific work carried out by PPG-PEC students, as well as research work from other postgraduate programs and undergraduate students are carried out during the Scientific Week. Ph.D. Benjamim Eurico Malucelli, a traditional event from the Department of Pathology at FMVZ-USP.
History
The Postgraduate Program in Experimental and Comparative Pathology was established by Prof. Ph.D. Mario Mariano, a fully committed professor at the Department of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ) of University of São Paulo (USP). This professor, with expertise in the inflammation area, combined with his connection to researchers who developed scientific works related to this area, such as Gyorgy Miklós Böhm, Sergio Henrique Ferreira, João Garcia Leme and Ricardo Ribeiro dos Santos, from the Ribeirão Preto Medical School of USP, was fundamental to the creation of the Program.
The first coordinator of the Program was Prof. PhD. Mario Mariano, being followed by Prof. Ph.D. João Palermo Neto (1990-1998), Benjamin Eurico Malucelli (1998-2003), Helenice de Souza Spinosa (2003-2005), Luciano Freitas Felicio (2005-2007), Silvana Lima Gorniak (2007-2015), Paulo César Maiorka (2015-2019) and Terezinha Knöbl (2019-current).
The Program was established in 1978, and the first Doctoral thesis defense, which occurred on August 31, 1982, was presented by student Nair Massako Katayama Ito with the work entitled: “Acute inflammatory experimental response in Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758): studies qualitative and quantitative aspects of paw edema, increased vascular permeability and pain”, supervised by Prof. Ph.D. Gyorgy Miklós Böhm.
The first master’s thesis was defended by student Silvana Lima Gorniak on February 28, 1986 with the theme “Palicourea marcgravii: studies in laboratory animals”, supervised by Prof. Ph.D. Helenice de Souza Spinosa.
In 1983 happened the first edition of the Scientific Week of the Department of Pathology, affectionately called “Children’s Week”, in which postgraduate students and undergraduate students presented their research in the form of a poster. This event was so innovative that, in subsequent editions, other Teaching and Research Institutions wanted to participate.