Dr. Miguel Cunha is a General Surgery Attending, working in the Algarve Hospital University Centre (Portimão Unit), in the South of Portugal, since 2020. He is also currently working in his PhD in Clinical Research and Translational Medicine at the University of Algarve (2021-).
He trained as a General Surgery Resident at the Algarve Hospital University Centre, and Curry Cabral Hospital in Lisbon (2014-2020). He did a training and research fellowship, dedicated to minimally-invasive oncologic colorectal surgery, at the Hospital del Mar, in Barcelona, Spain (2019)
His research interests and main focus include colorectal surgery and colorectal cancer, proctology, collaborative research and sustainability in surgery. He has published more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed indexed scientific magazines, and he presented more than 50 oral communications and lectures in national and international scientific meetings.
Dr. Miguel Cunha serves within a number of committees. He is the chair of the Research Committee of The Rectal Cancer Reference Centre in the Algarve University Hospital (2020-), and he is the co-chair of the European Society of Coloproctology Social Media Working Group (2021-). He was an executive member of the PT Surg (the PorTuguese general SURgery collaborative research group) for four years (2018-2021), and he now takes part in the Advisory Board of the PT Surg (2022-). Also, he works as a trainee editor for the Colorectal Disease Journal since 2022.
Collaborative research involves teams of healthcare professionals from different areas of expertise and/or students who come together to address a research question or audit. These groups can be found all over the world. These communities allow for better research, by combining the knowledge and effort of many towards a common goal. The scale of collaborative research can be global, as with the GlobalSurg-COVIDSurg collaboration that ran a study in 120 countries including more than 190000 patients. A dissemination committee was created to maximize impact on media and clinical guidance. The future challenges for collaborative networks are: (1) increasing the capacity for collaborative networks set up globally, particularly in LMICs, (2) sustainability in onfrastructure and funding and active involvement of students / juniors, (3) Working with patients in research co-development (PPI), providing summaries / patient-oriented materials to empower patients to advocate for their care based on evidence, (4) performance of prioritization cycles to ensure maintained relevance (5) new study designs (adaptive trials, iterative protocols, economic evaluations) (6) data collection efficiency with new technologies, as well as maximization of data sharing and dataset combination.
Published
Jan 2022
Portugal is a European country that borders to the East with Spain and to the West with the Atlantic Ocean, and including two island regions, Madeira and Azores. According to the latest census, its population is about 10 million. Colorectal cancer in Portugal is a major cause of disease, being the second most incident cancer and the second cancer-related cause of death according to gender. In our country, Colorectal Cancer is approached by multidisciplinary teams. Moreover, referral centers for rectal cancer do exist, and colon cancer centers may follow. There are 21 recognized rectal cancer referral centers in Portugal, and these centers are documented as strongly qualified in their field of practice, highly specialized in structures and equipment, and frequently audited by authorities so that high quality is ensured. A population-based colorectal cancer screening has been legislated since 2017, using a fecal occult blood immunochemical test. However, according to the latest data, inclusive results concerning above the average emergency surgery rates for colorectal cancer, further promotion and adherence to this screening strategy is warranted. Concerning other surgical outcomes, similar results were found when comparing Portuguese and international data. Some of the latest Portuguese data on colorectal surgery derives from the country’s participation in global collaborative research studies promoted by authorities such as the European Society of Coloproctology. Collaborative research opportunities, the existence of a dedicated group of surgeons focusing on research (The “PT Surg Group”), and the awareness of Portuguese Surgical Societies regarding training in surgical skills have been important for surgical global improvement in Portugal, and will further continue to improve surgeons’ multi-field aptitudes.
Published
Mar 2021
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