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Name: Pedro Miguel Baptista
E-mail: pbaptist@wfubmc.edu
Year of Birth: 1976
Place of birth: Portalegre, Portugal
City of residence: Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Years in the US: 3.5 years
Undergraduate Degree: Pharmacy (University of Lisbon)
Current professional status: PhD candidate of the 3rd Gulbenkian PhD Programme in Biomedicine
Research interests: Regenerative Medicine – Liver Regeneration and Tissue Engineering
Best career achievement: Being able to have a lot of fun while I’m doing my PhD far away from family, friends, home…
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To be or not to be an immigrant in the US
What brought you to the USA?
My PhD thesis and some curiosity about this lure that America has… Like it or not, this is still the best place to do research in the planet. Not every place is top notch, but there are definitely a lot of top notch people everywhere.
Name the three most valuable lessons you have learned in this country (at work or not).
1) Productivity/Efficiency – it’s amazing that almost everything here happens without incomprehensible delays. On what concerns to work, people here know what they should do when they’re working…
2) Tolerance/Cooperation – I was surprised to see how helpful and tolerant people are! I know I’m in the South and not in a big city… but being me a foreigner with a funny strange accent, it was quite nice to see that people took their time to help me.
3) There’s so much potential in Portugal! – I think this is the most valuable lesson. Being here, opened my eyes and made me appreciate the good things we have at home. Missing them played the biggest part of course, but that doesn’t weaken the fact that we have a quite fantastic gastronomy, smart people (some of them over here…) and an historic legacy.
Are you planning to go back to Portugal? Why/Why not?
Yes, I am. There are only so many places we can call home and for me, that’s Portugal. Emotional reasons apart, I think that there’s good opportunities to work and do research in Portugal these days. It might not be as easy as here or other places… but I’m up for the challenge! Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration! I think those have to be the keywords in your mind when you are in a stage not as smooth as here.
What conditions (other than salary) do you have here that you do not have in Portugal?
In the context of what I do (Regenerative Medicine), funding here is incredible. It’s true that it’s becoming more difficult every day, but it’s still quite overwhelming when compared to Portugal. Also, the fact that most of the suppliers/vendors are here, makes it easier to get something you need for your projects… and fast! In fact, the all atmosphere seems to be quite different. The universities are very dynamic, there are top researchers closer to you, a lovely broad international environment, the competition is a lot higher and all that makes possible to progress in your work a lot quicker than in most of the places, having fun all the way!
What do you think Portugal is still better at?
It might be our Achilles’ heel in some regards, but it’s also one of our biggest strengths’, our “life style”. We know how to enjoy life over there! Plenty of vacation time, nice weather, socialized health system and good social security make our life easier and more enjoyable. It’s just a pity that it seems that we don’t do enough to keep these things the way they still are… if at least we could work a little more and complain a little less…
What would you like to see changed in the Portuguese educational system?
There are several issues that in my opinion need to be corrected once and for all, but the word motivation, being a big drive to success and achievement, seems to be lost somewhere in the system. With all the reforms constantly announced, I don’t see anyone (teachers and students) being truly motivated… despite the enthusiasm of the successive governments that introduce these changes. There’s something being lost in translation. It’s time to reward people that make the difference (teachers and students), to be more flexible and active (school administrations), to be more efficient spending resources and time (reform after reform doesn’t exactly help…) and to positively encourage and motivate people (teachers and students) in the enjoyment of knowledge and continuous learning.
The daily life in the US
| Favourite news from Portugal: |
Publico, Sapo |
| Favourite Website/Blog: |
TV Tuga |
| Ideal weekend program in your US city: |
It’s a small city, so there’s not a humongous cultural offer, but there’s still plenty to do. There’s always a movie or concert to catch, a dinner with friends, a bar to go out at night, etc, etc. Around here, it’s always nice to go hiking to the Blue Ridge Mountains or to go diving in the carolina coast (graveyard of the Atlantic). Both are beautiful! Also, there’s this football (the real and only one) gang that meets every weekend and makes sunday afternoons really funny and active. |
| Portuguese neighbourhood: |
Unfortunately, none… but besides some new additions to the portuguese team in Winston-Salem in the last year (we are now 3! – as far as we know), there’s quite a few portuguese graduate student friends in Durham/Chapel Hill that I meet from time to time.
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