The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) occupies a strategic position as a Health, Science and Technology institution at the national level of the Unified Health System (SUS). The institution has two major fields of action: collective or population health (public health) and individual health (preventive and curative). Fiocruz is an important reference for technical support, human resources training and health surveillance in several Brazilian States and its activities continue to expand. The René Rachou Institute (IRR), a Fiocruz unit in Minas Gerais state, is one of the most important biomedical scientific research institution in the country, enjoying great national and international prestige.
The Graduate Program in Public Health of IRR – Fiocruz Minas was created in 2013, to meet a growing demand for graduate training in Public Health in the State of Minas Gerais. Currently, the program has three lines of research, which incorporate the various projects developed by the faculty:
- Aging and Health;
- Public policies, programs, and health services;
- Health and environment
The Graduate Program in Public Health aims to train teachers, researchers, and professionals from health and other aligned areas in the scientific field of Public Health and related subfields, such as Epidemiology; Social and Human Sciences in Health; and Policies, Planning, and Management of Health Systems and Services. From this perspective, the Program meets the regional and national demand for qualified professionals in this area to work in the Unified Health System.
The Program’s specific objectives are:
- To provide technical and academic knowledge in the Public Health area, enabling the exercise of teaching in higher education and graduate level.
- To develop skills for the development of research projects in the Public Health area, based on the scientific knowledge acquired during the program.
- At Doctoral level, to develop skills to conduct original and independent research in the area.
- To qualify alumni to work in health services from an interdisciplinary and multi professional perspective, integrating the theoretical knowledge of the Public Health area with the practices developed in the services.