Professor Óscar Dias, Full Professor of Otorhinolaryngology [ENT] at the FMUL, on 23 November received the 2016 Professor J. Gomes-Pedro Pedagogical Merit Award.

This award is intended to reward the lecturer, or group of lecturers acting as a pedagogical team in a given project, who stood out the most during the previous academic year for his/her contribution to the improvement of Medical Education in the FMUL. The action may relate to: the structure of the disciplinary area; excellence in the development of integrated teaching, learning and assessment strategies; development and implementation of innovative pedagogical practices; and investment in pedagogical training.

It aims to reward not only the quality and originality of teaching, but also to promote the improvement of teaching, training and assessment at the Medical School.

The Newsletter Editorial Team asked Professor Óscar Dias about what receiving this award meant to him.

“The award made me very happy and it has arrived at an extraordinary moment of my life.

In 1976 I signed my contract as Anatomy Assistant. Thus I complete 40 years of formal connection to the Faculty, which started with an invitation by Professor Armando Ferreira and Professor Mário Andrea.

On the other hand, I have the privilege of being the Professor of ENT in the year that marks the centennial of the first ENT class taught by Professor Carlos de Mello.

It is a very emotional prize for a lecturer, and I am sure all the lecturers in this house would like to be in my situation.

I feel that this award is not just mine but a prize for the entire Faculty, since the work that was awarded today was only possible with the support and enthusiasm of the students, technicians, employees of various sectors of the Faculty, and many Professors and Doctors of the University Hospital.

 I feel privileged due to the career that has opened up before me, guided by my Masters. I feel I have reached the stage of giving something back, to the School, to the students, the doctors, the University, and society.

I thank Professor Fausto Pinto, illustrious Director of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, the Pedagogical Council and Professor Isabel Pavão Martins for creating the Professor Gomes Pedro Pedagogical Merit Award.

Secondly, I have to express my appreciation to colleagues who were kind enough to put forward my name for such a high distinction.

My deep thanks to the two assistants of the ENT subject Dr Marco Simão and Dr Marta Canas Marques, who, with great dedication and enormous personal sacrifice, have helped me fulfil the mission of the ENT University Clinic in very special circumstances. A public word of thanks to Mr. Rui Peneda, audio-visual technician of HSM, and Dr Graça Caldeira, technician at FMUL.

In recent years, I learned a new word with Professor Paulo Costa that helped me a lot and which I would like to share. The concept of Andragogy, of teaching adults, in short, teaching how to learn. The entire Otorhinolaryngology teaching project started to focus on opportunities to learn, rather than on teaching. Even the exam became an opportunity to learn.

And so, the students created the ENT E-Book, which is invaluable because in it one can feel the youth, the imagination and the will to affirm oneself.

The students created the contents of a Pedagogic ENT Branch at the Ciência Viva Centre. By doing it, the students reinforced their will to intervene in society, which will be transversal to any area they may work in the future.

The students are helping me bring to life the historical heritage of the ENT subject in a project that is being conducted with the Library of the Faculty and the Museum of the University of Lisbon. We are reconstructing the work and the times of the four Professors who preceded me (Carlos de Mello, Carlos Larroudé, José Nobre Leitão, and Mário Andrea) and thus, together, we learn to value what we have in the present.

With this, future doctors learn to understand evolution and the need to continue to learn throughout life.

This year students are developing the ENT Environment relationship in close collaboration with FMUL’s Institute of Environmental Health. This will be the clinical area that will have greater development in the next years, and so they prepare for the future.

The students are also creating, with me, an ENT course for General and Family Medicine in e-learning format, which will contribute to improve the quality of care by promoting a more harmonious interaction with primary care.

Special circumstances in recent years have made me know the Faculty and the University better and I want to publicly acknowledge the role of the E-Lab of the University of Lisbon, the Department of Medical Education and the Audio-visual Unit of FMUL, as they have been tireless partners In finding solutions to the challenges that have been posed.

This true pedagogical adventure started at the end of 2013, when the Faculty Scientific Council made me responsible for the Otorhinolaryngology subject, and came naturally as a response to a deep crisis. The enormous pressure that the University Clinic underwent, generated and accelerated the finding of new solutions, more focused on the participation of the students and taking advantage of the technology that we currently have. It is true what is said about a crisis being a great opportunity.

The ENT subject survived thanks to the support and encouragement I had from everyone. The Award given to me belongs to all of us collectively, as it attests the imagination and energy of the School as a whole. I alone would never have been able to realize this project.

I have deep respect and admiration for Professor Gomes Pedro. I was his student, and I witnessed his enthusiasm for Medical Education. It is a great honour for me to be worthy of the Award that bears his name. Without his work we would not be here today.

And I finish with a special thank you to the students. They are the source of inspiration. I can only say thank you for all that I have learned with the students of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon.

A final word of recognition to my amazing family. Only with the support, encouragement and sacrifice of my wife and children throughout my life I have been able to have my career in the Faculty and University Hospital, get to this stage and be worthy of the Award that I was given.

I express my deepest thanks to all!”

Raquel Moreira
Equipa Editorial
news@medicina.ulisboa.pt