Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2021;76:e3630.

ISSUE Cover

Scientific legacy of COVID-19 at the FMUSP-HC academic health system: current status and implications for the future

Geraldo Filho Busatto , Clovis Artur Silva , Antonio José Rodrigues Pereira, Eloisa Bonfá, Tarcísio Eloy Pessoa de Barros-Filho

DOI: 10.6061/clinics/2021/e3630

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection, with potentially devastating consequences to the health and welfare of human populations worldwide. It has had an enormous impact on the daily activities of the largest academic health system in Latin America, namely the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo & Hospital das Clínicas (FMUSP-HC) system. From the beginning of the pandemic, research groups from the FMUSP-HC system conducted a wide range of medical investigations. These groups produced novel findings that have added to the global scientific database. This research will assist in mitigating the impacts of this new disease. Data compiled by the Observatório de Produção Intelectual (OPI) of the FMUSP-HC system () () indicate that there was an increase of over 10% in the total number of publications per year (n=3210) in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019. A large number of these articles were focused on COVID-19 (n=334). In 2021, a total of 338 COVID-19 related articles were published until October 2021. This accounts for a large proportion (13.7%) of our annual scientific productivity. More than 50% of the COVID-related papers produced by members of the FMUSP-HC community included original data. A notable number of those articles have been published in the highest-impact international periodicals. These include Science, Nature Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal, and the Lancet family of journals. Finally, the overall citability of our scientific COVID-19 publications can be attested to by an H-index of 35 up until October 2021.

The scientific output of the FMUSP-HC system regarding COVID-19 has also been enhanced by a number of novel institutional initiatives. These include: 1) the organization of electronic medical records that comprehensively document, for the purpose of research studies, hospital information on more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases treated at the Hospital das Clínicas (data on vaccinations as well as other health care initiatives offered to the thousands of workers based at the FMUSP-HC system are also documented); 2) large-scale analyses of laboratory tests and imaging results from patients with COVID-19; 3) initiation of biobank facilities to store large quantities of blood samples and post-mortem tissue from patients with COVID-19; 4) various innovative methodological strategies, including artificial intelligence, for interpretating computed tomography data; and 5) the development of cooperative, multidisciplinary programs to follow patients who were hospitalized and survived moderate to severe COVID-19. The health system also initiated a Steering Committee that took responsibility for the strategic oversight and governance of these institutional activities. This initiative brought together directors from all administrative research committees at the FMUSP-HC system. It also included representatives from the central clinical board and scientific committees of all institutes of the Hospital das Clínicas. Finally, COVID-related research initiatives led teams at the FMUSP-HC system that were financially supported by donations from the general public and private local companies. This was accomplished because of the innovative HC-COMVIDA organization () (). This organization provided a timely, vital addition to the funds raised from local research support agencies.

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