Opening of IRCAD América Latina (Barretos unit, Brazil)

IRCAD has inaugurated a new research and training center in the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil in partnership with the Hospital de Câncer de Barretos.
[video_ircad file=”20110709_IRCAD_Brazil” lang=”en” credits=”M. Heidmann – X. Ganaye / IRCAD”]

On July 9, 2011, IRCAD (Research Institute against Digestive Cancer) inaugurated its second international branch, IRCAD Latin America, a new research and training center in minimally invasive surgery located in the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil, in the presence of Prof. Jacques Marescaux, president of IRCAD, Mr. Henrique Prata, director of Hospital de Câncer de Barretos, Mrs. Sybill Storz, CEO of Karl Storz Endoskope, Mr. Roland Ries, Senator-Mayor of Strasbourg, Mr. Arnold Munnich, counselor of President Nicolas Sarkozy for biomedical research and health, Mr. Yves Bur, parliamentarian, Mr. François Loos, parliamentarian, former Minister, Vice-President of the Regional Council of Alsace, Mr. Alain Beretz, President of the Strasbourg University, Giovanni Guido Cerri, State Secretary of Health, who represented Geraldo Alckim, Governor of the state of Sao Paulo, José Serra, former Governor of Sao Paulo, and several Brazilian political representatives.

With a surface of more than 7000 square meters, IRCAD Latin America is one of the largest training centers in minimally invasive surgery in America.

IRCAD Latin America follows a two-fold objective:

• Providing surgeons from both the North and the South American continent high level training in the field of minimally invasive surgery,
• Developing research and development in new surgical technologies, in particular computer sciences and robotics.

IRCAD France will assume the entire scientific responsibility of research and education at IRCAD Latin America through a 15-year contract.

Minimally invasive surgery training and research in computer sciences

IRCAD Latin America has the most advanced technologies and teaching methods, which made IRCAD’s renown: an experimental operating theater with 22 tables that are all linked together with a multimedia teaching system for minimally invasive surgery, High Definition at all levels (auditorium, experimental operating theater, conference rooms, operating theaters at the hospital of Barretos), and a pool of 800 expert surgeons of international renown who are in charge of the courses.

Following the model of the Institute in Strasbourg, this center aims at training about 6,000 surgeons per year by 2016 coming from the North and the South American continent in the specialities of general, digestive, colorectal, bariatric and pediatric surgery, urology, gynecology, interventional endoscopy, skull base surgery, arthroscopy, surgery via natural orifices.

In parallel to the onsite surgical training in Brazil, the Brazilian team of IRCAD has started to translate the entire content of Websurg (www.websurg.com) into Portuguese, first website for online surgical education.

In the future, IRCAD France and IRCAD Latin America will further cooperate to develop common research projects.

The creation of IRCAD Latin America represents a 17 million Euros investment, which has entirely been assumed by Mr. Henrique Prata, executive director of the Hospital de Câncer de Barretos. Visionary with a passion for new technologies, Mr. Henrique Prata chose to use his fortune for philanthropic projects in the health field. He has had IRCAD Brazil built with great enthusiasm within 14 months, right next to the Hospital de Câncer de Barretos.

IRCAD worldwide

After Asia-IRCAD Taiwan in 2008, the opening of this second branch of IRCAD on the South American continent represents an additional step towards globalization of education as praised by the Institute in Strasbourg.

Through the exportation of its know-how in the field of surgery, IRCAD becomes an ambassador of French and European excellence in the world in minimally invasive surgery education.