The Graduate Program in Immunology, started in 1989 with the Masters Program, and in 1998 with the Doctorate Program, and keeps its mission to this day — adapting itself to the criteria of its field in the Graduate National System and to the demands of the region in which it is inserted. It is important to point out that 28 years ago, the Program was created from the gathered competence of Immunology researchers that were involved in different institutes of UFBA. Along this path, one can see a unity of commitments to the mission and the philosophy that guided the establishment of the course, as wells as a constant meaningful and beneficial renewal of ideas. The program is based at the Institute of Health Sciences (Instituto de Ciências de Saúde) of Universidade Federal da Bahia, counting on the necessary administrative support to respond to the needs of faculty, student body and researchers, collaborating with academic projects related to the program.
The Program has been adapting itself to the new scientific trends and regional demands, and the faculty is now composed by professors and researchers from other UFBA units (Institute of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Medical School and University Hospital Professor Edgar Santos, School of Veterinary Medicine), other institutions like Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Universidade Federal de Sergipe and the Osvaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz-BA). As for the academic management, policy and admission methods and course completion, since mid-2008 the PPGIm has its set of by-laws under reformulation and forwarded to the appropriate instances at UFBA.
The effective participation of faculty members and the infrastructure of the research labs have enabled the constant flow of theses and dissertations concluded within their deadline, as well as its articulation and participation with other institutions besides those related to the courses per se.
Since its installation, a high percentage (about 80%) of the PPGIm’s faculty has, besides the activities inherent to teaching and research, some participation in internship and continuing learning programs. They also participate in activities related to community health, such as immunology and infectious diseases outpatient service at the University Hospital Professor Edgard Santos (Prof. Edgar Marcelino de Carvalho Filho, Prof. Ilma Andrade, Prof. Luciana Cardoso, Prof. Olivia Bacellar and with direct interunit action HUPES-ICS Prof. Albert Schriefer). On the infectious diseases fields, the respective professors at the outpatient service add attention to risk patients and patients with HTLV, HIV and tropical diseases at HUPES, in charge of Prof. Carlos Roberto Brites.
The faculty and PPGIm graduate students can also be seen in action in groups involved with activities of lab medicine in several units of UFBA, with Prof. Ájax Mercês Atta, Prof. Maria Luiza Souza Atta, Prof. Denise Lemaire, Prof. Roberto Meyer, Prof. Ivana Nascimento, Prof. Songelí M. Freire, Prof. Neuza Alcântara and Prof. Luciana Cardoso. In the last semesters, PPGIM, as a result of actions carried out by associated professors, has started working on distance education, through programs and activities through the MOODLE UFBA system, crucial to the recycling of professionals and graduate students, along several participating units and beyond the walls of UFBA.
We also highlight the establishment, since February 2014 – in its fourth edition in 2017 – of the Immunology Summer Program, designed by PPGIm professors and students, as well as our Annual Scientific Exhibit (ExpoPPGIm), in its sixteenth edition in 2016, events that allow the gathering of new students and the setting of new research networks with foreign and Brazilian researchers.
Thus, PPGIm’s faculty is well articulated and integrated with the scientific community, making easier the cooperation intergroup in Brazil and abroad. It is important to remember that several of the activities that attract external participants (events, examination board) target the establishment of cooperation ties, and some repercussion of this strategy can already be seen, through the achievement of doctorate exchange internships of students or professors (post-doctorate) in different groups. Moreover, cooperation, especially in the international context, are being upgraded through actions already taken in the course of Science Without Borders Program. Historically, PPGIm has a crucial role in educating and preparing professors and researchers that are members of boards in several research institutions, university education and public agencies in Bahia and Brazil, thus contributing considerably to the development of knowledge in immunology.