PPGSAAM was the first stricto sensu Graduate Program in the area of Veterinary Medicine in the Northern Region and the first stricto sensu graduate Program at the Castanhal Campus. Although the Program area is in Veterinary Medicine, PPGSAAM has contributed to the training of veterinarians, biologists, nurses, sanitary engineers, pharmacists, nutritionists, chemists, aquaculture technicians and zootechnicians, serving the different professionals from the North, Northeast regions and Southeast of the country.
It should be noted that PPGSAAM also participates in the Education and Training Alliance Program (PAEC), receiving professionals from other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama. To date, 116 Masters and 01 Doctor have been trained, three of whom are foreign Master’s who have returned to their countries of origin after graduating.
The exchange of experience between PPGSAAM and other research groups working on the Castanhal Campus helped in the creation in 2017 of the Anthropic Studies in the Amazon Graduate Program (PPGEA) in the Interdisciplinary area. Some professors from PPGSAAM also guide in PPGEA and this exchange has contributed even more to the interiorization of postgraduate studies in a state with continental dimensions such as Pará, assisting in regional development and providing resources from approved notices for infrastructure necessary for the development of research.
Academic-scientific partnerships have also been established between PPGSAAM and other HEIs and research institutions from different regions of the country, with the development of research projects, participation in defense boards for master's dissertations and doctoral theses, co-supervision of theses doctorate and scientific publications. Some teachers of the Program also give lectures and courses for municipal health technicians and technicians from the Health Defense Agency of the state of Pará, promoting the training and updating of these professionals.
At the same time, PPGSAAM believes in the inseparability of teaching, research and extension. In this context, many research projects are associated with extension projects, which involve health education, environmental education and the preservation of wild fauna and these activities have had a direct impact on society. In 2017 and 2018, projects of this nature were in force and were carried out in different municipalities in the countryside of the state of Pará. Program Professors also provide clinical and laboratory support for aquatic mammals served by the Amazon Aquatic Mammals Study Group at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (GEMAM-MPEG) and for wild animals captured by IBAMA technicians and captive animals in maintainers, zoos and zoobotanical parks in Pará, Amazonas and Amapá. In addition to this, the services provided by the different diagnostic laboratories associated with PPGSAAM and the clinical care provided by Hospital Veterinário are also concrete examples of this solidarity.
Taking into account the pioneering spirit of PPGSAAM in the North of Brazil and the training of Master’s and Doctors, the Program has been satisfactorily fulfilling its core goals, with the firm purpose of expanding its social insertion. Some PPGSAAM graduates have been admitted to Technological and / or Higher Education Institutions and serve as teachers at the Federal Institute of Pará (IFPA) campus Bragança, campus Castanhal and campus Tucuruí, at Universidade Federal do Pará campus Castanhal, at Universidade Rural Rural da Amazônia (UFRA), at Faculdade Estácio in Castanhal and in Rio de Janeiro, at Universidade da Amazônia (UNAMA), at Metropolitan Faculty of Amazonia (FAMAZ), at Faculdade Maurício de Nassau (UNINASSAU) and at Universidade Paulista (UNIP). Still, there are those who have been admitted to the State Health Defense Agency of Pará (ADEPARÁ) and to different municipal health departments of the state in positions of coordination of Health Surveillance, Health Surveillance or Zoonosis Control Center, exercising a different role in these places.
PPGSAAM has also been active in basic education in the communities where researchers develop research and extension projects. The teachers and students involved in the research project Pró-Amazônia carried out activities with the community centers and schools of the Expedito Ribeiro Settlement, in the municipality of Santa Bárbara do Pará, of the Ananim Village community, in the municipality of Peixe Boi, of the Centro Alegre community, in the municipality of Viseu and the Monte D'Ouro community in São Domingos do Capim, state of Pará. During the visits, the researchers gave lectures, promoted discussion forums and delivered informative folders on diseases of Amazonian importance, transmission routes and diseases. main control and prophylaxis measures.
PPGSAAM professors and students also carried out activities of the Science Club in schools of the Settlement Expedito Ribeiro and the Ananim Village community in the municipalities of Santa Bárbara do Pará and Peixe Boi, respectively. The Science Club's main proposal is to encourage the participation of public high school students in research activities. In the municipality of Santa Bárbara, the activity was developed in the format of a science fair with the participation of students and residents of different age groups. In Peixe boi, the main diseases about which the population of the Ananim Village lacked information were identified and in the school child members of the Club were selected who participated in a field day and were trained to be disseminators of information regarding the prevention of these diseases. diseases, demonstrating the ability to recognize wild animals, their ectoparasites and the potential for transmitting pathogens to residents of their community. At the end of the activities, the children drew and created comic books, portraying what they had learned and from this material prepared by them, the booklet “I learned at the Science Club” was prepared and printed and distributed to students and other members the village. Extension projects developed by the PPGSAAM team have also promoted exchanges with elementary school students in schools in different municipalities in the interior of the state of Pará.
During the realization of the extension projects “Chagas Disease: actions to prevent a serious public health problem in the state of Pará” and “Actions to prevent visceral leishmaniasis in a risk area”, PPGSAAM students and professors gave lectures, promoted forums of discussion and distributed informative folders in schools and community centers of rural communities in the municipality of São Domingos do Capim, addressing the importance of Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, the routes of transmission and the main control and prophylactic measures. During visits to schools, the importance of preserving the environment was also discussed, with a cinema section for all students and teachers with the presentation of a cartoon addressing this theme.
Another extension project entitled “Knowing to protect - actions to prevent bat attacks by humans in vulnerable rural communities” has also promoted the interface with basic education aiming at building knowledge about the risks and preventive measures involved in the transmission of rabies by bat attacks on the population of vulnerable rural communities in Northeast Para. The activities carried out included the participation of elementary school students and teachers from the municipalities of Curuçá and São João da Ponta, state of Pará.
It is also noteworthy that some students of the master's and doctoral courses at PPGSAAM act as teachers of basic education, and through graduate school they are updating themselves and improving their education, contributing even more to elementary education.