PRESENTATION

The Post-Graduate Program in Collective Health (PPGSC, in Portuguese) from Universidade Estadual de  Londrina (UEL) was founded in 1990, with the Master’s Degree in Collective Health. At the time, there were only eight post-graduate courses (stricto sensu) in the field of Collective Health in Brazil, and none in the South of the country. The program arose in the context of major intellectual fervor in Collective Health and of important social movements, such as the 8^th National Health Conference and the 1^st National Human Resources Conference, held in 1986, along with the inclusion of the right to access to health set forth in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which culminated in the legislation that would establish the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS).

Currently, the program currently offers the Academic Master’s of Science Degree (M.S.), with openings announced every two years, and the Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.), with annual openings, both available to candidates with a higher education degree in any field of knowledge and who are interested in developing scientific research in the field of Collective Health. The two lines of research that are currently available are quite comprehensive, focused on the areas of Epidemiology (quantitative studies) and Health Planning and Management (qualitative or quantitative studies). The two lines are as follows: 1) Analysis of the living and health conditions of population groups and 2) Evaluation, work management, and health education. PPGSC is ranked as a level 4 (four) quality, according to the CAPES assessment.

The entire faculty of PPGSC has experience in research in Collective Health, with expertise in some specific areas. Some of PPGSC’s main research projects are developed in collaboration with researchers from other renowned national and international institutions. More than 200 Master’s and Doctoral students have completed their studies in the program, together with a wide range of undergraduate scientific initiation students from UEL.

PPGSC aims to promote the academic skills and qualification of the faculty, researchers, and professionals from a variety of professions that work in the field of Collective Health, through the expansion and dissemination of knowledge from this field, thereby contributing to the development of both Collective Health itself and SUS. It also seeks, through their products/services and processes, to contribute to the development of communities, mainly from the city of Londrina, the state of Paraná, and the surrounding region, including other states.

MAJOR AREA OF CONCENTRATION – Public Health

Lines of Research:

LINE OF RESEARCH	OBJECTIVE
1. Analysis of the living and health conditions of population groups.	Identify health-disease patterns and the illnesses stemming from external causes in specific population groups, as well as analyze their possible determinants, especially those related to living conditions, environment, and work, in an attempt to aid in the formulation of public policies and actions that contribute to the improvement of life and health.
Most active faculty in line 1	Arthur Eumann Mesas, Camilo Molino Guidoni, Edmarlon Girotto, Marcos Aparecido Sarria Cabrera, Mathias Roberto Loch, Selma Maffei de Andrade, Paulo Henrique de Araújo Guerra, and Renne Rodrigues
2. Evaluation, work management, and health education.	Contribute to a better structure and operation of health services and programs through analyses of programs, services, and practices related to work management, the continuing education of health service professionals, and the training of new health professionals in teaching institutions.
Most active faculty in line 2	Brigida Gimenez Carvalho, Fernanda de Freitas Mendonça, Maira Sayuri Sakay Bortoletto, Alberto Durán González, Marselle Nobre de Carvalho, Regina Melchior, and João Felipe Marques da Silva

FACULTY:

PPGSC COORDINATION

• Coordinator:
• Assistant coordinator
• Coordinating committee:

RESEARCH GROUPS:

PPGSC counts on some research groups made up of professors, students, and other partners. The access links to the research groups are as follows.

• GestSUS – Support group for municipal health management 
• GraduaUEL – Analysis of the health and habits of the UEL Undergraduate students
• PRÓ-Mestre – Health in the lifestyle and work of the professors of the UEL network 
• Social Movements Project – Analysis of new social movements and health production in the outskirts of the metropolitan region of Londrina, PR
• Work and Health Care

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE – Master’s of Science degree

The Master’s of Science (M.S.) degree candidate must complete 1,305 (one thousand five) hours and 87 (eighty seven) credits, distributed as follows:

a)   17 (seventeen) credits in mandatory disciplines;

b)   10 (ten) credits in elective disciplines;

c)   60 (sixty) credits in Master’s Thesis.

A) MANDATORY DISCIPLINES

Code	Discipline	Créditos	Carga horária
2 SAC 296	Health Policy, Planning, and Management	5 cr	75 h
2 SOC 387	Health and Society	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 298	Epidemiology	5 cr	75 h
2 SAC 299	Health Research Methods and Techniques	4 cr	60 h

B)  ELECTIVE DISCIPLINES

Code	Discipline	Créditos	Carga horária
2 STA 071	Quantitative Methods Applied to Health	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 301	Methods in Qualitative Research	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 302	Theoretical Approaches and Qualitative Research Analysis	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 303	Advanced Topics in Health Planning and Management	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 304	Advanced Topics in Epidemiology	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 305	Introduction to Health Service Assessment	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 306	National Health Information System	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 307	Epidemiology of Noncommunicable Diseases and Illnesses	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 308	Work and Health Care	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 309	Systematic Review and Meta-analysis	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 310	Introduction to Active Methods of Teaching-Learning	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 311	Critical Reading of Scientific Articles	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 312	Aspects of Scientific Production and Dissemination in Collective Health	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 313	Master’s Thesis Seminars I	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 314	Master’s Thesis Seminars II	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 315	Undergraduate Teaching Practices I	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 316	Undergraduate Teaching Practices II	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 317	Undergraduate Teaching Practices III	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 318	Undergraduate Teaching Practices IV	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 319	Activities of Scientific Dissemination I	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 320	Activities of Scientific Dissemination II	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 321	Activities of Scientific Dissemination III	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 322	Activities of Scientific Dissemination IV	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 297	Special Activities in Collective Health I	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 300	Special Activities in Collective Health II	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 199 a SAC 230	Special Topics in Collective Health	Variável	Variável

The qualification exam, a requirement for the public defense of the Master’s Thesis, is conducted after having completed the necessary credits and the foreign language proficiency exam (English). The selected examining board consists of at least one member outside of the PPGSC.

Entry into the M.S. degree program is biannual, and has been since the founding of the program in 1990. This structure of a biannual entry into the M.S. program is necessary due to the heavy workload necessary for permanent faculty members to dedicate to both the undergraduate and post-graduate (lato-sensu) programs (Multidisciplinary Residence in Family Health).

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE – Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.)

The Doctoral candidate must complete 2,550 (two thousand five hundred fifty) hours and 170 (one hundred seventy) credits, distributed as follows:

a)   6 (six) credits in mandatory disciplines;

b)   14 (fourteen) credits in elective disciplines;

c)   150 (one hundred fifty) credits in Doctoral Dissertation.

Doctoral candidates who have taken Master’s level courses recognized by CAPES can have credits validated in elective disciplines, after having been assessed by the advisor and the program’s coordinating committee.

Doctoral candidates who take courses at the Master’s level or Master’s candidates who take courses at the doctoral level will have the credits automatically authorized as elective disciplines. Doctoral candidates who are grant recipients must mandatorily take the disciplines of Undergraduate Teaching Internship I and II.

The development of the PPGSC follows a curriculum-based organization, meeting the requirement of offering disciplines considered to be core issues in Collective Health (see description below) and one instrumental discipline (Health Research Methods and Techniques) for the Master’s degree, and Theoretical-Methodological Fundamentals of Research for the Doctoral degree. The elective disciplines were planned to provide support to student learning, linked to two different lines of research (for example, Advanced Topics in Epidemiology and Advanced Topics in Planning and Management) or pertinent to both lines of research (for example, Introduction to Active Teaching-Learning Methods, Critical Reading of Articles). The curriculum is organized as follows:

A) MANDATORY DISCIPLINE

Requires 6 credits. There is only one mandatory discipline in the Doctoral degree:

Code	Discipline	Créditos	Carga horária
2 SAC 323	Theoretical-Methodological Fundamentals of Scientific Investigation	6 cr	90 h

B) ELECTIVE DISCIPLINE

Requires 14 credits, in which credits from Master’s degree courses or courses taken in other post-graduate programs can be validated:

Code	Discipline	Créditos	Carga horária
2 SAC 296	Health Policy, Planning, and Management	5 cr	75 h
2 SOC 387	Health and Society	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 298	Epidemiology	5 cr	75 h
2 SAC 299	Health Research Methods and Techniques	4 cr	60 h
2 STA 071	Quantitative Methods Applied to Health	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 301	Qualitative Research Methods	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 302	Theoretical Approaches and Qualitative Research Analysis	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 303	Advanced Topics in Health Planning and Management	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 304	Advanced Topics in Epidemiology	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 305	Introduction to Health Service Assessment	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 306	National Health Information System	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 307	Epidemiology of Noncommunicable Diseases and Illnesses	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 308	Work and Health Care	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 309	Systematic Review and Meta-analysis	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 310	Introduction to Active Methods of Teaching-Leaning	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 311	Critical Reading of Scientific Articles	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 312	Aspects of Production and Scientific Dissemination in Collective Health	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 315	Undergraduate Teaching Practices I	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 316	Undergraduate Teaching Practices II	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 317	Undergraduate Teaching Practices III	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 318	Undergraduate Teaching Practices IV	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 324	Doctoral Dissertation Seminars I	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 325	Doctoral Dissertation Seminars II	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 326	Doctoral Dissertation Seminars III	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 327	Doctoral Dissertation Seminars IV	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 328	Doctoral Dissertation Seminars V	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 329	Workshop on the Writing of Scientific Articles I	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 330	Workshop on the Writing of Scientific Articles II	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 319	Scientific Dissemination Activities I	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 320	Scientific Dissemination Activities II	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 321	Scientific Dissemination Activities III	3 cr	45 h
2 SAC 322	Scientific Dissemination Activities IV	4 cr	60 h
2 SAC 297	Special Activities in Collective Health I	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 300	Special Activities in Collective Health II	1 cr	15 h
2 SAC 199 to SAC 230	Special Topics in Collective Health	Variável	Variável

C) UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING INTERNSHIP

Mandatory disciplines for doctoral candidates who are research grant or post-graduate grant recipients, totaling 4 credits, and elective disciplines for non-grant recipients:

Code	Discipline	Créditos	Carga horária
2 SAC 281	Undergraduate Teaching Internship I	2 cr	30 h
2 SAC 282	Undergraduate Teaching Internship II	2 cr	30 h

The qualification exam, a requirement for the public defense of the Doctoral Dissertation, is conducted after having completed the necessary credits and the foreign language proficiency exams (English and Spanish). The selected examining board consists of at least one member outside of the PPGSC.

Entry into the Ph.D. program was biannual from 2009 to 2013 and has been annual since then.