Interactions with Academia
1) University of Minho, ICVS – collaboration with Jaime Correia de Sousa (organisation of meeting on respiratory health; co-supervision of PhD student; collaboration in the context of GARD/Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases–Portuguese Speaking Countries; writing of papers)
2) University of Porto:
- ConectAR Project – collaboration with Ana Sousa-Dias, and Cristina Jácome (CINTESIS – Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto) (patient involvement in co-design of research studies).
- DigitAsthma Project – collaboration with João A. Fonseca and Bernardo Sousa-Pinto (CINTESIS; Faculty of Medicine), and Elísio Costa (Faculty of Farmacy)(preparation of application for funding (Interreg-POCTEP) with a project of digitalisation of severe asthma care)
3) National Institute of Health, Porto – collaboration with João Paulo Teixeira (Research Unit of the Department of Environmental Health)(writing of papers)
4) University of Aveiro – collaboration with Sílvia M. Rocha in the context of the PAEld Study – study of clinical, inflammatory, and metabolic phenotypes of asthma in elderly individuals - study of metabolomics aspects (analysis of respiratory / condensed breath and urinary samples; co-supervision of a PhD student).
5) University of Coimbra and Coimbra University Hospital Centre – collaboration with Frederico Regateiro, Cláudia Chaves Loureiro, and Carlos Robalo Cordeiro (partnerships in the context of the DigitAsthma Project, and the MASK-Air Project)
6) NOVA University of Lisbon (CHRC- Comprehensive Health Research Center – NOVA Medical School: collaboration with Helena Pité (PAEld Project; this project also involves co-supervision of a PhD student); collaboration with Nuno Neuparth and Pedro Carreiro-Martins (partnership involving setting up a lung function testing laboratory; joint papers)
7) University of Évora – collaborations with Ana C. Sousa (School of Biology) and Ramiro Pastorinho (School of Health)(joint papers, co-supervision of PhD theses in the context of the impact of air pollution, and climate change on asthma and COPD).
Knowledge Transfer actions (Interaction with Industry)
- Collaboration with Healthway (private IT company also focused on certified training in Health) – development of a training programme on certain aspects of asthma and COPD for health professionals (how to promote health literacy, how to implement mHealth monitoring of disease).
- Collaboration within the GES-UBI interactions (Engineering Faculty, Faculty of Health Sciences) – development of a wearable COPD sensor to detect early exacerbations of the disease; various IT companies are being involved.
- Collaborations with the MASK-Air project (ARIA-EAACI) – worldwide network – this includes interactions with various international IT companies for the consolidation of implementation of mHealth monitoring of patients with asthma and rhinitis; the involved device is TLR9 and also a class IIA medical device.
Clinical interactions
In the context of research projects the RAD Research Group was involved, in 2022, in the following collaborations with clinical institutions:
- ANTICIPATE project – study of T2 phenotype of asthma in adult asthmatics seen at outpatient clinics of 25 hospitals in Portugal (examples: Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Oriental, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Coimbra, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João, Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da beira, ULS de Castelo Branco, Centro Hospitalar Tondela Viseu, Centro Hospitalar de Setúbal, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, among others).
- MASK-Air use by elderly asthmatics project – collaboration with ACeS Cova da Beira (Primary Healthcare Centres of Covilhã and Fundão), CHUCB – Cova da Beira University Hospital Centre (Departments of Immunoallergology, and Pulmonology)(patient recruitment and characterisation).
- PAEld Study – study of clinical, inflammatory, and metabolic phenotypes of asthma in elderly individuals - CHUCB – Cova da Beira University Hospital Centre (Departments of Immunoallergology, and Pulmonology); HAL-ULSB (Amato Lusitano Hospital, Local Health Unit of castelo Branco; Immunoallergology Unit – Prof. Carlos Lozoya-Ibánez).
Outreach activites (Interaction with Society)
i) 1st National Meeting on Respiratory Health Literacy (30 September 2022), co-organised by the RAD Research Group, and UBIAir-Clinical & Experimental Lung Centre (both as UBI representatives), together with ENSP-NOVA (National School of Public Health – NOVA University of Lisbon), PNDR-DGS (National Programme for Respiratory Diseases of the General-Directorate for Health), and GARD (Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases) Portugal. It also involved the National Plan for Health Literacy – General-Directorate of Health, the National Association of Pharmacies, Patient Associations (APA and RESPIRA), Scientific Societies (Pulmonology, Immunoallergology, Primary Care), Local Governance (Town Halls of Cascais, Lisbon, Guarda, and Gouveia), among other stakeholders).
ii) ConectAR Project – collaboration with Prof. Ana Sousa-Dias, and Prof. Cristina Jácome (CINTESIS – Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto); organisation of online and face-to-face meetings and focus groups with Asthma and COPD patients, to discuss aspects related to patient involvement in all steps of clinical research; this project received an award from the Portuguese Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
Interaction with Governance
- One of the RAD researchers (Tiago Maricoto) is a member of the Advisory Board of the Research Department of Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF); and a member of the Scientific Board of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Association of Family Medicine and General Practice Residents (AIM LVT).
- One of the RAD researchers (Luis Taborda-Barata) interacts with WHO (World Health Organisation) as the representative of Portugal, designated by the General-Directorate of Health (DGS) in GARD – Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (part of WHO).
- Involvement of the Town Halls of Guarda, Seia, Lisbon and Cascais, in the context of the 1st National Meeting on Respiratory Health literacy (Lisbon, 30 September 2022)
- Collaboration with the Town Hall of Fundão, in the submission of an application to PRR (Resilience and Recovery Funds for Portugal) Funds – project on aggregate approaches (Thermal Spas, Forest Therapy, Climate Therapy) for patients with asthma and COPD
Internationalisation
Internationalisation has been strengthened, in 2022, in various aspects:
i) Collaboration in international networks:
- ARIA-MASK-Air, involving over 100 researchers worldwide– this resulted, in 2022, in publication of 7 papers in international WoS journals, with high impact factors; it also involved preparation of submission of an Interreg-POCTEP research project to assess the impact of mHealth in preventing severe exacerbations of asthma
- Altitude Climate Therapy Task Force of the EAACI (European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology); this has involved collaboration of one of RAD researchers (Luis Taborda-Barata) in writing up a Position Paper, as well as in preparation of a strategy for future research in the field
- One of the RAD researchers (Tiago Maricoto) is collaborating with International Primary Care Respiratory Group, namely at Sentinel Network project (“Listening and reporting for respiratory primary care”) aiming at developing practice driven answers on COVID-19 and respiratory questions. Available at: https://www.ipcrg.org/resources/ipcrg-covid-19-and-respiratory-qa.
ii) Invited lectures at international scientific events
- World Congress of the International Society of Medical Hydrology – invited main lecture given by one of the RAD members (Luis Taborda-Barata), on 20th October, Salsomaggiore, Italy (https://ismh2022.it/about-congress/)
- 4th Ibero-American Summit for the Respiratory Committee Leaders in Respiratory Health – invited main lecture given by one of the RAD members (Luis Taborda-Barata, in collaboration with GARD Portugal), on 2nd December; online event (https://www.lovexair.com/en/cumbre-2022/)
- 11th IPCRG World Conference. Tiago Maricoto invited as a speaker for the session: “COVID-19, primary care and respiratory health”. Málaga, Spain. May. 2022.
iii) Invitations to serve on international panels and organisations
- one of the RAD researchers (Luis Taborda-Barata) was invited to serve as an international expert on the assessment of research infrastructures, in the context of ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) assessment
- one of the RAD researchers (Luis Taborda-Barata) carried on being a member (representative of Portugal) of GARD /WHO