UMass Boston

The Transnational Brazilian Project aims to:
Programação_1º_Simpósio_Internacional_EJUD8_-_06_e_07.05.2021_-_Com_apoio.pdf
1. Organize a network of faculty and students at UMass Boston to promote transnational, transdisciplinary, and transcultural research, teaching, and service activities (focused on Brazilian immigrants in Massachusetts and the United States as well as Brazilians residing in Brazil); and

2. Promote academic collaborations between UMass Boston and universities and government agencies in Brazil through short- and long-term exchange of students and faculty.

One of the first initiatives has been collaboration between the Brazilian Immigrant Center and the University of Boston to foster mutually beneficial engagement in the areas of research, training, and community service. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on November 9th.

For more information:

C. Eduardo Siqueira
MD, ScD Associate Professor, School for the Environment
Coordinator of Transnational Brazilian ProjectThe Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
University of Massachusetts Boston
carlos.siqueira@umb.edu
617.287.4863

Activities Timeline

2021

1o SIMPÓSIO INTERNACIONAL - EJUD8: Mundo do Trabalho no Século XXI: Desafios e Perspectivas

May 6 - May 7: Dr. Eduardo Siqueira (Transnational Brazilian Project Coordinator) and Dr. Ney Maranhão (Transnational Brazilian Project International Scholar 2014-2015) participate in an International Symposium in Brazil "EJUD8 - World of Work in the 21st Century: Challenges and Perspectives"

Entrevista com Autores - Cadernos de Saúde Pública (CSP)

March 5: Dr. Eduardo Siqueira (Transnational Brazilian Project Coordinator) and Maria Tereza (Transnational Brazilian Project International Scholar 2019-2020) are guests in an interview for the program Cadernos de Saúde Pública (CSP). Episode 14: O (des)controle dos agrotóxicos no Brasil.

2020

Dimensions of International Migration in the American Continent: Critical Perspective

December 17-18. This panel is part of the II Colloquium on Migration and Geographic Space promoted by the Graduate Program in Geography of the Federal University of Alfenas, state of Minas Gerais. Attend the event live, free of charge (in Portuguese).

Uncovering the Health Care Experience of Brazilian Immigrant Cancer Patients in Massachusetts: A Seed Project

Dr. Eduardo Siqueira and Laura Warwick, from the Transnational Brazilian Project, have been awarded a U54 grant to study the Brazilian population in Massachusetts regarding cancer treatment and health disparities. The Brazilian population in Massachusetts in 2018 was close to 90,000. There are no publicly available data on cancer prevalence in this population nor information on how health care facilities treat those patients. This pilot project will interview a sample of Brazilian cancer patients in Massachusetts to describe their access to care, and the continuity and coordination of the care provided to them by health care services in Massachusetts. This is a high-risk project because Brazilian immigrants are a hard to reach underserved immigrant population. The preliminary evidence gained through this seed project will enable us to prepare a larger study to characterize the treatment pathway of Brazilian cancer patients, which may contribute to reducing cancer health disparities in the Commonwealth.

Dr. María Idalí Torres has been awarded a grant from the Brazilian Ministry of Education to visit the Universidade Federal do Espiritu Santo (UFES) in Vitória, Brazil. She will be in Brazil for five weeks, teaching a 4-week graduate-level research methods course and supporting doctoral students who are writing manuscripts for publications, under the Health Policy track of the Graduate Program in Collective Health (Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva). This collaboration between UMass Boston and UFES is possible thanks to the Transnational Brazilian Project efforts and the Brazilian Foundation CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) Program called PrInt (short for Internationalization Program).

2019

Laura Warwick  currently working as a Visiting Scholar at UMass Boston (The Mauricio Gastón Institute), Laura Warwick is a Brazilian MD and Behavioral Medicine Psychotherapist studying the Health Care Experience of Brazilian Immigrant Cancer Patients in Massachusetts. Her research aims to recognize challenges and benefits of these treatment pathways, including possible Mental Health manifestations, her area of expertise. Beyond academia, Laura is passionate about family, friends, learning new things, engaging in causes for animals, spirituality and sports.

August 2019 - June 2020: Maria Tereza Frota conducts research at UMass Boston

María Tereza Frota is a Doctor of Nutrition in Public Health and Professor at Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil. As part of the Transnational Brazilian Project, she is a research scholar at the Gastón Institute and UMass Boston School for the Environment. Her research focuses on nutritional status and food security of populations, and food environment. She will be researching in Boston until July 2020. Maria Teresa was born and raised in San Luís, Maranhão.

2017

September 2017: a delegation from Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, visits UMass Boston

Dr. André Duarte (International Relations), Dr. André Luiz Felix Rodacki (Graduate and Research Coordinator) and Dr. Camila Maciel (Associate Professor of Endocrinology), visited the Gastón Institute to discuss and establish faculty and student research collaboration between the Federal University of Paraná and UMass Boston. In the meeting, Natalicia Tracy (Brazilian Worker Center, Allston MA), Tim Sieber (Anthropology, UMass Boston), Fabián Torres-Ardila (Associate Director, Gastón Institute), and visiting scholars Ana Rosa Linde and Patrícia Rodrigues Costa de Sá.

Patrícia Rodrigues Costa de Sá is an Economist with a Master's degree in Geography from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, currently a visiting scholar at the Gastón Institute, researching about the Haitian Diaspora. Her dissertation aims at providing understanding on the actual role of Brazil in the Haitian migrations. Her research relies on ethnographic methods to raise qualitative information and shed a light onto Haitians´ subjective meanings of place, space and belonging in relation to Haiti, Brazil and the United States. The research also focuses on the role of social ties to help migrants plan and carry out their projects. Mrs. Costa de Sá has worked as a College Professor since 1998, and in the past three years she has coordinated initiatives towards the insertion of Haitian immigrants in Brazil, with the support of local NGOs and the municipal government. 

June 2017: Dr. Eduardo Siqueira presents at the “I International Symposium of the Brazilian-US Public Health Policy Network”

Held at the campus of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil, on June 22 and 23, the symposium was part of the technical cooperation agreement between UMass Boston and UFES, sponsored by the Foreign Relations Secretariat of UFES. Dr. Siqueira moderated the symposium panels titled “Emergence of the Debate on Political Economy of Health in Brazil” and “Public Health Management by Social Organizations for Health (OSS) in Brazil.” As part of a week-long visit to UFES, Dr. Siqueira conducted workshops at the Graduate Program in Collective Health about the U.S. health care system, provided tips for writing articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals, and discussed doctoral dissertation projects with doctoral students.

2016

December 2016: Grant funding from UFES supporting faculty travel to conduct joint research and workshops

The BRAZIL-US Public Health Network Project aims to promote a bilateral cooperation in teaching and researching public health policies. The partnership between the Graduate Program in Public Health at the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is within the scope of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two institutions in 2015. The agreement encourages researchers, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students from both universities to establish a transnational network to undertake joint research on public health policies. 

UFES’ Office of Research and Graduate Studies is the office overseeing the Brazilian arm of the project. Funding and support focus on research covering the influence of the American health system in Brazilian national health policies, particularly from the 90’s onward. Other research areas of interest include assessing the outcomes, the sociocultural integration of Cuban doctors in Brazilian society, and the media coverage of the More Doctors Program (Programa Mais Médicos), a federal government-sponsored health initiative in Brazil. This program was launched in 2013 as a way of addressing primary health care (PHC) problems of  the country’s National Health system (SUS) and encouraged an influx of Cuban physicians by establishing a partnership with the Cuban government. 

Dr. Edson Theodoro dos Santos Neto and Dr. Carlos Eduardo Gomes Siqueira coordinate the BRAZIL-US Public Health Network Project in Brazil and in the U.S., respectively. Other collaborators include Dr. Adauto Emmerich Oliveira, Dr. Francis Sodré, Dr. Maria Angélica Carvalho Andrade, Dr. Alecia McGreggor and Dr. Gabriella Barreto Soares; undergraduate (Anna Júlia Del Piero Marques and Jennifer Novais de Araújo) and graduate students—Ms.Tatiana Breder Emerich and Mrs. Fabiana Turino, who are doctoral students, as well as Ms. Lorena Estevam Martins Fernandes and Ms. Anna Júlia Del Piero Marques, who are master students.

September 2016 — May 2019: Ana Rosa Linde conducts research at UMass Boston

Ana Rosa Linde Arias is an environmental health scientist. She has a Master in Genetics at the Oviedo University in Spain and a doctoral degree in Environmental Sciences at Hokkaido University in Japan in 1994. She was a Post-doctoral Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories between 1999 and 2002. She was the scientific coordinator of a Japan-Brazil research collaboration between 2010 and 2015, where she was actively involved in building international institutional partnerships, negotiating joint research project, and coordinating bilateral initiatives between the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Kitasato Institute in Japan. She worked with the research team led by Nobel Laureate Prof. Satoshi Omura. She has worked as a researcher in institutions in Brazil, Spain, Germany, Japan and the U.S. At UMass Boston she will be supervised by Professor Eduardo Siqueira in her research project titled “Women, Reproduction and Family Life in the Time of Zika.” 

September 2016: Brazil Week at UMass Boston

The Consulate-General of Brazil and UMass Boston celebrate Brazilian art and culture at UMass Boston, including live musicians, a movie screening and an art exhibit.

March 2016: Ana Maria Maniero Moreira's time at UMass Boston ends after a successful year 

Ana Maria Maniero Moreira, a doctoral student at the University of São Paulo (USP), and a UMass Boston Research Scholar, Assesses Working Conditions for Waste Pickers in Sao Pãulo, Brazil. She has spent the last year on campus researching recycling practices in Boston in an effort to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of two recycling collaboratives in São Paulo, Brazil. 

2015

October 2015: Eduardo Siqueira speaks in the Brazilian House of Representatives

Dr. Eduardo Siqueira attended the seminar “New Flows of Migrant Workers to Brazil” held on October 22 in the Brazilian House of Representatives, in Brasília, Brazil. He spoke about U.S immigration policies in the panel “The Experience of Managing Migration in the Countries that Received more Immigrants in the First Decade of the XXIst Century in the West: United States and Spain.” The seminar was sponsored by the Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee of the Brazilian House of Representatives and aimed at discussing international migration to Brazil and the new immigration legislation and policies needed to address it.

Sept 2015—Sept 2016: Etienne Américo Cartolano Júnior, from University of São Paulo (USP), conducts research at UMass Boston

Etienne Cartolano is a computer engineer with a master's degree from the Escola Politécnica of the  University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil and a specialization in Information Technology from the École Centrale de Lyon (France). He is currently a doctoral student at USP. His dissertation aims at creating an algorithm to measure trust in data collected by regular citizens in Citizen Science projects. This algorithm innovates by using data from social networks to define profiles' similarity between amateurs and specialists. Dr. Antonio Mauro Saraiva is his advisor at USP and Dr. Robert Stevenson, from the Department of Biology, supervises Etienne during his stay at UMass Boston.

July 2015—July 2016: Marianne Sallum, from University of São Paulo (USP), conducts research at UMass Boston

Marianne Sallum is an art educator with a degree from the Belas Artes University, São Paulo and a Masters in Archaeology from the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at the University of São Paulo (USP). She is currently a doctoral student in Archaeology at USP. She studies Portuguese colonialism since the XVI century and its impacts on the indigenous Tupi people, who live in the city of Peruíbe, located in the coast of the state of São Paulo. Dr. Fabíola Andrea Silva is her advisor at USP and Dr. Stephen Silliman, from the UMass Boston Department of Anthropology, will supervise Marianne during her stay in Boston.  

June 1—September 30: Anne Cristine Rumiato, from State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) conducts research at UMass Boston

Anne Cristine Rumiato is a nutritionist with a nutrition degree from Filadelfia University, Londrina, Brazil. She has a Master of Education degree from the Júlio de Mesquita Filho State University of São Paulo (UNESP) at Marilia. She is a doctoral student in worker health in the School of Nursing at State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). She studies obesity in the workplace, strategies to increase healthy foods in the workplace, and empowerment of communities to improve food choices. Dr. Eduardo Siqueira is a member of her doctoral committee and will supervise Anne Cristine during her stay at UMass Boston. 

May 25—27: Dr Eduardo Siqueira participates in "Work Environment in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Challenges"

Dr. Eduardo Siqueira, coordinator of the Transnational Brazilian Project, has helped organize and lectured in the International Symposium Work Environment in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Challenges held at the Forum Ruy Barbosa, São Paulo, Brazil from May 25 to May 27, 2015. This symposium is the first activity implemented under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between UMass Boston and the National Association of Labor Judges (ANAMATRA) of Brazil. The symposium was sponsored by the Judicial Labor School of São Paulo (EJUD2), ANAMATRA, UMass Boston, and the Association of Labor Judges of São Paulo (AMATRA 2).

May 2015—July 2015: Pedro de Araújo Neto (Programa Ciência sem Fronteiras - CAPES) participates in a summer internship at UMass Boston

Pedro de Araújo Neto is an exchange medical student from the Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program (Programa Ciência sem Fronteiras - CAPES). Pedro finished the second year of Medical School in the Southwest Bahia State University ( UESB). While in the U.S., he spent two semesters at Allegheny College where he took courses in biomedical science and languages. Pedro will be at UMass Boston for a two-months summer internship between May and July 2015, supervised by Professor Siqueira. The focus of his internship is on the health conditions of Brazilian immigrant workers living in the Boston metropolitan area.

April 2015—March 2016: Ana Maria Maniero Moreira (University of São Paulo -USP-) conducts research at UMass Boston

Dr. Ana Maria Maniero Moreira is a physician with a medical degree from the School of Medicine at the University of Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. She also has an environmental health certificate and a Master of Science degree from the School of Public Health (FSP) at the University of São Paulo (USP). Currently, she is a doctoral student in environmental health at the FSP, a student representative and manager of the Recycling Program at FSP, and a consultant in the following areas: solid waste, hazardous waste and medical waste management, recycling and worker's health. Dr. Moreira’s doctoral research focuses on the occupational safety and health hazards faced by recycling workers from two recycling cooperatives in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Eduardo Siqueira is a member of her doctoral committee and will supervise Dr. Moreira during her stay at UMass Boston. 

2014

October 2014—February 2015: Ney Maranhão (University of São Paulo - Largo São Francisco -USP-) Conducts Research at UMass Boston

Ney Maranhão is a Federal Labor Judge in the state of Pará. He is a doctoral student in Workplace and Social Security Law at the University of São Paulo - Largo São Francisco (USP), Brazil. He will stay at the College of Public and Community Services of UMass Boston between October 2014 and February 2015. Judge Maranhão’s research focuses on the expansion of the concept of work environment pollution to include not only the traditional physical, chemical, and biological risks but especially psychosocial and ergonomic risks. Professor Eduardo Siqueira will supervise his work during his stay at UMass Boston.

August 2014—July 2015: Gabriella Barreto Soares (Universidade Estadual Paulista -UNESP-) Conducts Research at UMass Boston

Gabriella Soares is a doctoral student in Social and Preventive Dentistry at the Araçatuba Dental School, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), in the Araçatuba campus, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Soares is a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Espírito Santo Federal University -UFES and has a Master degree in Social and Preventive Dentistry from the Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP. Professor Eduardo Siqueira will supervise her work. She will stay at UMass Boston from August 2014 through July 2015, and she will conduct part of her doctoral dissertation research in Boston (called “sandwich doctorate” in Brazil), which discusses the impact of musculoskeletal disorders in Brazilian dentists. Furthermore, during this period, she will study privatization of health care services in Brazil.

July 2014: Transnational Brazilian Project Presented at PUB Boston

Dr. Eduardo Siqueira, coordinator of the Transnational Brazilian Project and professor in the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS) at UMass Boston, presented objectives and results of the last two years at PUB Boston, a meeting to connect students and researchers with support of Harvard School of Public Health and the Consulate General of Brazil in Boston.

May 2014: inter-institutional meeting to discuss research proposals

Elton Francisco is a doctoral student in Cultural History at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), in Florianópolis, Brazil. Francisco has a Master degree in History of Present Time at the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC). He focuses his research in the history of present time, in particular on contemporary migration, emigration of Brazilians to the United States, social and cultural imaginary, social networks, migrant women, and transnational families. He will stay at UMass Boston from March to August 2014 to conduct part of his doctoral dissertation, which discusses the transnational ties of Brazilian immigrants and affective and care ties in Brazilian transnational families split between the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil and Massachusetts. His stay at UMass Boston is part of what is known in Brazil as “sandwich doctorate.” Professor Eduardo Siqueira will supervise his work while he is at Boston.

March 2014: The National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro and the University of Massachusetts Boston Collaborate in Research and Teaching

The National School of Public Health (ENSP/Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday, March 20, 2014 to collaborate in research and teaching. The agreement, signed by the ENSP Director, Hermano Castro, and the vice provost and director of the Office of Global Programs of UMass Boston, Schuyler Korban, includes the exchange of students and researchers from both institutions. More info (in Portuguese)

2013

October 2013—March 2014: Gastón Institute receives Renata Reis Santos and Sandra Regina Cavalcante

Dr. Renata Reis dos Santos is a doctoral student in Social and Preventive Dentistry at the Araçatuba Dental School, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), in the Araçatuba campus, state of São Paulo, Brazil. She will stay at UMass Boston from October 2013 through January 2014. Professor Eduardo Siqueira will supervise her work. During this period, she will study public-private partnerships for hospital management in Massachusetts and São Paulo. Dr. Reis’ doctoral concentration is Occupational Health. Dr. Reis is a Doctor of Dental Surgery and has a Master degree in Social and Preventive Dentistry from the Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP.

Sandra Regina Cavalcante is a Labor Attorney and Doctoral student in Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health of the School of Public Health at the University of São Paulo (USP). She has a Master in Public Health and a Certificate in Labor and Environmental Laws. Sandra is the author of the book “Trabalho Infantil Artístico: do deslumbramento à ilegalidade” about children who work in the entertainment industry in Brazil. Sandra is a Law Professor and gives talks about the worker health of junior artists. She will conduct part of her doctoral dissertation research in Boston (called “sandwich doctorate” in Brazil), which discusses the impact of labor courts’ decisions on workplace health and safety cases in Brazil and the U.S. Dr. Cavalcante will stay in the Gastón Institute for 6 months, starting in October 2013. She will conduct a case study, which includes interviews with lawyers, union leaders, NGO representatives and academics, among others. She will also conduct a literature review of legal decisions, newspaper articles, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) reports, health and safety legislation, and related official documents.

June—August, 2013: Cristina Brinkerhoff Travels to Brazil
Cristina Brinkerhoff, a Master’s student in Applied Sociology, spent ten weeks at the National School of Public Health (ENSP), Rio de Janeiro, funded by a minority fellowship from the Department of Preventive Medicine of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She was mentored at ENSP by Dr. Frederico Peres to do a literature review on Latino Health Literacy and develop a research proposal for her master's degree.

July 2013: Fernanda Lucchese Travels to Brazil
Fernanda Lucchese spent 20 days in Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, funded by the Faculty-Student Research Abroad Program of UMass Boston’s Office of Global Programs, interviewing Brazilian mothers for her dissertation project. Fernanda is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology. Franci da Luz and Patricia Buzelli, two undergraduate students in the Department of Psychology, also participated in her research, helping Fernanda interview Brazilian mothers in Massachusetts.

June 2013: Eduardo Siqueira Travels to Brazil
Eduardo Siqueira spent one month in Brazil, funded by the Office of Global Programs. He started his research on the health of returned Brazilians to Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, as part of the Faculty-Student Research Abroad Program. He also participated in panels in Campinas and Cuiabá on international health policy issues.

May 2013: Elizabeth Nagahama Visits UMass Boston
Elizabeth Nagahama, a nurse from Maringá, Paraná, visited UMass Boston from May 20th to the 24th. Nagahama, a nurse with specialization in Public Health and Obstetrics and a master and doctoral degree in Public Health at the State University of Campinas, São Paulo, is currently doing her postdoc at the same university. She visited UMass Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to discuss potential collaborative research projects in the future.

April 2013: Second Meeting of the Transnational Brazilian Project
On April 2nd, participants in the meeting shared information on ongoing research projects. These included projects with Brazilian mothers and infants (Fernanda Lucchese), health policy in Brazil (Alecia McGregor, doctoral student at the Harvard School of Public Health), the health of returned Brazilian immigrants (Eduardo Siqueira), and Brazilian domestic workers in Massachusetts (Natalicia Tracy). An undergraduate student, Franci da Luz, reported on the one-week trip of about ten UMass Boston students to Porto Alegre through the Beacon Voyages for Service program. Professor Tim Sieber of UMass Boston’s Department of Anthropology, was the faculty supervisor for the trip. The stay of Stanley Vasconcelos, master’s student in chemistry at the University of São Paulo, to the Chemistry Department, was also mentioned in the meeting. The Santander Top USA program financed his visit from February to March, and Professor Wei Zhang of the Chemistry Department was his mentor at UMass Boston.

2012

November 2012: MOU Signed
The Brazilian Immigrant Center signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Massachusetts Boston on November 9th, 2012.

September 2012: Inauguration of the Project
On September the 27th, there was a one-hour and a half meeting with the presence of several UMass Boston faculty members and students along with Provost Winston Langley and Office of Global Programs director Eunsook Hyun. The meeting discussed the purpose of the Transnational Brazilian Project as a network of faculty, students, and the Executive Director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center. Four undergraduate Brazilian students who came to UMass Boston as part of the Science without Borders Program attended the meeting.

April 2012: Visit of Dr. Frederico Peres
On April 26th, Dr. Frederico Peres, Professor at the National School of Public Health (ENSP) in Rio de Janeiro, gave a talk at UMass Boston. He also met with Eunsook Hyun to discuss future cooperation with ENSP and Fiocruz.

March 2012: Visit of Brazilian Consul
On March 7th, Brazilian Consul Fernando Barreto gave a talk about the Brazilian economy at UMass Boston as part of the Gastón Institute’s Speaker Series.