The July 11 edition of the Por Dentro da USP highlighted the work of the Comprehensive Center for Precision Oncology (C2PO), coordinated by Roger Chammas, a professor at USP’s Medical School. C2PO is one of nine research centers established by the university’s President’s Office.
“Our main goal is to coordinate the work of the many oncology leaders spread across USP,” explains Chammas. “The idea is to establish our two main hospitals—the São Paulo State Cancer Institute and the Oncology Center at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School’s Hospital das Clínicas, as research hubs. This will foster collaboration among the various groups and support the creation of patient cohorts to be monitored across different projects.”
“The center’s mission is to train a new generation of researchers,” he says, “including aspects related to education and communication. We aim to strengthen the understanding of the importance of scientific literacy in our society and to reaffirm the role of researchers and scientists in promoting literacy among different audiences.”
In 2024, the C2PO Education and Communication Group coordinated an elective undergraduate course on oncology and combating misinformation: PRG0033 – We Need to Talk About Cancer: Interdisciplinary Projects to Fight Misinformation and Prejudice, offered through the Provost’s Office for Undergraduate Studies. “The goal was to provide students from different fields with tools to communicate scientific activities,” the professor explains. ‘“As a result, they produced materials addressing aspects of misinformation. We will launch the second edition of the course this coming semester.”
“We want to raise awareness, especially among the high schoolers. We are deeply committed to the increasingly established notion that young people are drivers of transformation in family habits, and we want to use this strategy to bring the discussion about the importance of cancer prevention into the hearts of families,” he says.
The center currently has 77 registered research groups. “We are extremely pleased with the level of expertise at USP in cancer research,” Chammas emphasizes. “Our goal is to bring people together and organize joint projects – we are already doing this – which will increase diagnostic accuracy and, in the future, enable more precise cancer treatment, especially within the Unified Health System.”
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
