1. What inspired you towards neuroscience?
It all started in a summer school I attended
during my Ph.D. back in 1998, where one of the keynote speakers was the
phonologist Professor Andrea Calabrese, who presented results from discourse
analysis of a Person with Aphasia that could inform health professional in
their daily practice, and I was able to attend various other presentations
related to neuroscience. Then, after completing my Ph.D. in 2001, during my
first years as a lecturer at the School of Health Sciences (ESSUA), University
of Aveiro, Portugal, I contacted Professor Alexandre Castro Caldas who
generously sent me copies of all his work related to Aphasia. I then familiarised
myself with this and other literature that lead to the first draft of a
research project in Aphasia.
2. Why stroke?
Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are
the first cause of death and disability in Portugal and, consequently, one of
the most frequent cause of hospitalisation. A significant part of stroke
related costs are related to rehabilitation (physiotherapy, occupational
therapy and speech and language therapy). Given the current situation in our
country and the fact that I have been since 2001 an academic based at a School
of Health Sciences, where these disciplines are taught and researched, the
promotion of successful community reintegration of stroke survivors and the
integrated care where several areas of rehabilitation are considered, has been one
of the aims of our research.
3. What have been the highs so far?
The highs of my academic life have very much
been related to the successful completion of my postgraduate students research
projects and their ultimate success as academics, scientists and clinicians.
Facilitating and fostering the research of young clinicians and seeing them
succeed afterwards has given me the greatest sense of self-completion over the
last fifteen years.
4. What have been the lows?
I’m not sure I could really call some of the
usual challenges every academic has to face, a true low. I look at this as a
necessary step toward our greatest achievements. The constant challenge limited
funding imposed on you, and the short-sighted vision of some strategic
decisions constrain the impact of some work you develop. However, it has also encouraged
me to take risks and tackle scientific problems that keep challenging me to
learn new things.
5. How do you balance work life with the needs
of home life?
My love for life and those that are closest to
me have always been my greatest source of inspiration. I was blessed with great
grandparents, parents, brother and friends that always supported me along my
whole life, and I was also fortunate to have crossed paths with the love of my
life whom I have been married to over the past twelve years. We have two
beautiful children I cherish deep in my heart. So I could say I struggle, like
any other academic, trying to juggle my daily work with a full personal life.
The right balance between work, people, sports, visual arts, music and
literature, has always brightened my days.
6. Who are your most important mentors and how
did you find them?
My greatest mentors have been my undergraduate
project supervisors (Professor Francisco Vaz, University of Aveiro, Portugal; José
Carlos Principe, University of Florida, USA), my M.Sc. (Dr. Gavin Cawley,
University of East Anglia, UK) and Ph.D. (Dr. Christine Shadle, Haskins
Laboratories, USA) supervisors. Also the lab directors at the universities
where I worked as a researcher have been a great inspiration: Professor Steven
Cox, University of East Anglia, UK; Professor Robert Damper, University of
Southampton, UK; Professor Paulo Ferreira and Dr. Armando Pinho, University of
Aveiro, Portugal.
7. What are your most important collaborations
and how have you built them?
Establishing interdisciplinary and international
research collaborations in life sciences has long been the top priority in my
agenda. Our longest collaboration in Aphasia/ Stroke has been with City, University
of London, UK. I was just about to start the supervision of a new Ph.D. student,
so in August 2006 I sent an e-mail to Professor Jane Marshall to arrange a
visit to London. Given the nature of the project we wanted to develop, Jane introduced
me to Dr. Madeline Cruice, whom I have worked with ever since. We have both
been members of the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (CATs) network over the
last three years.
Luis M. T. Jesus is a
Professor Coordenador (Associate Professor / Reader) at the University of
Aveiro, Portugal lmtj@ua.pt
