The wide-ranging initiative will involve professors, researchers and students from the 7 schools of medicine in Portugal, as well as the country's main biomedical research laboratories. At Harvard University, the program will involve researchers from Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutions together with faculty and students from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Kennedy School of Government.
The Harvard Medical School–Portugal Program will help modernize and improve the quality of medical education in Portugal, which is today a priority that must be addressed with respect to best international practices. Moreover, it must include the broadening of cooperation between Portuguese medical schools and Associated Laboratories and R&D institutions active in the field of biomedical and health sciences in such a way as to spur the creation of a truly competitive level of training at the international level.
The translational research activities are designed to help populate Portuguese research institutions with an increasingly sophisticated clinical and translational research capacity, and to expand the rate and quality of Portuguese clinical and translational research contributions to the international community. The program is also designed to foster long-lasting collaborative ventures, both within Portugal and between Portuguese and Harvard research groups.
The activities on health information will be based in Portugal and led by Portuguese academics. HMS will provide training and content through its Harvard Health Publications Division (HHP), which has 33 years of experience creating and disseminating health information for the general public.