The Professor Francisco Pulido Valente Teaching Award, currently worth 3,000 euros, was created by the Professor Francisco Pulido Valente Foundation and the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon in 1992, to annually distinguish the student of the degree in Medicine and Surgery with the best grade in Medicine II, that which is regarded as the subject most similar to Medical Clinical Practice, which the Patron used to teach as Full Professor.

The Prize was awarded in a public ceremony held on 23 May at the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon.

The winner was Ana Rita de Sousa Noia de Mendonça Bello.

The session was opened by Professor Melo Cristino, Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Faculty, who thanked everyone for their attendance.

Professor Miguel Carneiro de Moura, member of the Advisory Board of the Pulido Valente Foundation, introduced the lecturer, Professor Luís Costa, mentioning his brilliant academic and professional career. Director of the Oncology Department since 2005, Associate Professor of Medicine, Oncology and Oncobiology and Principal Researcher, responsible for the Translational Oncobiology Laboratory since 2002, his work is focused on breast cancer and bone metastases. In recent years he’s been studying the molecular mechanisms of tumour progression, using bone metastases in breast cancer as paradigm.

The lecture was entitled “Cancer and the Patient: how Dynamics Explains Prognosis.” In his presentation, Professor Luís Costa defended the importance of recognising that immunotherapy plays a key role in the treatment of some cancer patients. Recognising that this cancer/host relationship goes beyond the potential immune response makes it possible to see the host also as a vehicle for treating the disease.

The Prize was then awarded by Engineer Rui Pulido Valente, Chairman of the Board of Directors, to the student Ana Rita Bello, who was also the best Oncobiology student and has developed some of her work in the Research Unit headed by Professor Luis Costa at the iMM.

At the end of the session, Ana Rita confessed that she was very happy with this recognition, because she believes that is very important to value the FMUL students’ efforts. Like the Merit and Excellence Awards, the Pulido Valente Award is the recognition of the effort and dedication shown by students throughout the study programme. Humbly, she says that she’s not the only one who deserves to be honoured, but also some of her colleagues whose effort she acknowledges.

Raquel Moreira

Editorial Team