By Paulo Roberto Costa, Alessandra Tomal and Homero Lavieri Martins

The XXIV Brazilian Congress of Medical Physics and others satellite events were held between August 18 and 24, 2019. This intense week began with the launch of the Marília Teixeira da Cruz Courses, at Quintal da Bela, which was the residence of Professor Marília. The name was specially chosen to honor this teacher who has influenced several generations of Medical Physicists in Brazil. First Marilia Teixeira da Cruz Course took place on August 19th and 20th at the premises of the Radiology Institute of the Clinical Hospital of the USP School of Medicine, with courses in the areas of Radiotherapy Physics and Computed Tomography and Breast Imaging. In addition to several national teachers, the courses were attended by speakers Cynthia McCollough and Luis Fong de los Santos, from Mayo Clinic in the United States and Ioannis Sechopoulos, from Radboud University, in the Netherlands. More than 120 Medical Physics professionals, residents and graduate students attended the courses.

August 21st was dedicated to the holding of an important Workshop on Teaching in Medical Physics, held on the premises of the USP Polytechnic School in Santos (a coast city from São Paulo), brought together teachers, undergraduate, graduate and residency coordinators and students to discuss strategies for improving the training of these professionals in Brazil. The space was dedicated to the presentation of experiences in the different areas of training of Medical Physicists and the debate of ideas.

The opening of CBFM2019 was held on the evening of August 21, bringing experiences outside the traditional areas of physics or medical physics, with more general approaches to women’s leadership experiences in medical physics and the challenges of sharing family administration with competitiveness in the academic environment. For this, the event had the testimony of the teacher Cynthia McCollough, Mayo Clinic and president of the American Association of Medical Physicians (AAPM), and teacher Fernanda Staniscuaski of Parents in Science. The opening program also included statements by authorities and the presentation of the Guri Project guitar chamber.

The main stage of the congress took place from August 22nd to 24th, with the participation of more than 600 attendees, 15 international and 15 national speakers, all of them with great scientific, academic and professional projection. Right at the entrance of the trade fair at the Mendes Convention Center, attendees found a huge “timeline” with photos that helped tell the history of Brazilian medical physics since the foundation of ABFM. In this large poster, the participants could write their own stories and record the historical moment of ABFM’s 50th anniversary celebration. The mornings of the event were dedicated to short courses in the areas of Radiotherapy, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, with the participation of professionals and students of Medical Physics. During these days 23 lectures, 8 round tables and 6 events sponsored by exhibitors were presented. The scientific presentations had 42 oral presentations and 146 posters distributed in the various areas of knowledge of Medical Physics. In addition, a trade fair with 13 companies that provide equipment and services that presented their products to attendees.

The end of the days 22nd and 23rd were crowned with special sessions commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian Association of Medical Physics. In these sessions, tribute was paid to the founders of ABFM and films were presented that told the trajectory of this Association since its foundation, in 1969, to the present day. They were moments of great emotion and, at the same time, fun, with stories told by important characters of the construction of the national medical physics and a scavenger hunt with students.

Several other activities rocked the CBFM2019, such as a beach volleyball tournament in the mornings of the event, the “Laura Furnari” Prize for photography, a board game room, and various activities organized by exhibitors at the trade fair. For dads and moms, a babycare service was offered. Finally, a big party ended friday with great joy to celebrate ABFM’s 50th anniversary. All this in a very festive, happy and relaxed atmosphere.

The event program is still available at www.cbfm.net.br and photos illustrating the atmosphere of the event can be found at facebook.com/cbfm2019.