Lucas Nóbrega

Lucas Nóbrega, 21, was born in São Carlos, a countryside town in Brazil, known by its two great universities: University of São Paulo (USP) and Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). Since six years old, he has helped his parents in the family flower shop activities (whose name “Amor e Flor” means “Love and Flowers”), where he learned the importance of working, dealing with people and doing things that you enjoy. Regarding his priorities in life, he considers the most important his family and his study.

His passion for learning emerged while, by the age of thirteen, he started to participate on science courses for young students and science competition at universities as USP and UFSCar. Today, he is a third year medical student at University of São Paulo School of Medicine, doing research related to “trauma models in rats”, which importance is developing new approaches to trauma patients at USP hospitals. For these studies he is sponsored by the greatest research foundation in Brazil: FAPESP. He has participated in more than forty Courses related to Science, won five medals in science competitions, was approved in six Medical Public Universities in their Medical Course, always being among the first one hundred candidates: University of São Paulo (7^th place), Federal University of São Paulo (7^th place), University of Campinas (24^th place), Federal University of São Carlos (26^th place), University of State of São Paulo Júlio de Mesquita Filho (72th place), Federal University of Ouro Preto(6^th place).

Lucas lives at a student house built to help students with financial difficulties living in São Paulo, which is held by University of São Paulo School of Medicine and donations.

He thinks that the next decade will be really important for the creation of a new country in Brazil, and to face educational, cultural, and all sorts of Brazilian challenges, the most needed asset is “people”. Lucas sees researching at Harvard not just as an opportunity to bring new ideas to a building country, but as an opportunity to make good ideas fit Brazilian needs.

As a dream for the future, he imagines himself creating a new company related to technological transference from University to society in the field of medical devices, taking as examples successful stories like Opto and MMoptics from São Carlos, his hometown.