The nursing and rehabilitation scientist Dr Fabiana Faleiros can look back on an impressive career since her return to Brazil in 2012. She is now a professor at the prestigious Faculty of Nursing Sciences at the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto, the only cooperation centre of the World Health Organisation in this field in Latin America, and has already been able to place many of her students there for postgraduate studies after completing her doctorate at the Technical University of Dortmund.
Fabiana Faleiros impressed her academic supervisor in Dortmund, Prof Dr Christoph Käppler, with her commitment right from the start: "Her dedication was and is exceptional. Otherwise she would not have been able to complete the dissertation project (which she defended in German!) in two years," says Christoph Käppler looking back. In the meantime, Fabiana Faleiros and Christoph Käppler have established a close cooperation network, in which the KAAD is also involved. Recently, a young researcher was once again awarded a scholarship to do her doctorate in Dortmund, supervised by Christoph Käppler and Fabiana Faleiros. "There is no doubt that my academic links with Germany, i.e. the collaboration with Prof Käppler and the long-term connection to the KAAD, have boosted my professional career in Brazil. Today, I am very proud to be able to show the best of my students the prospects of studying in Germany," says the young scientist.
Looking back on her time in Germany, Fabiana Faleiros summarises: "When I came to Germany without my husband, I found support not only at the University of Dortmund, but also in church structures, which I was able to build up quickly thanks to the support of the KAAD. In my opinion, this is what makes the KAAD so special. It brings students from different cultures together, promotes dialogue among them through its educational programme and offers us opportunities to feel spiritually at home in Germany." The young academic is now the mother of two children and combines family life and professional work with her own dynamic.
Brazil (and Latin America in general) has a lot of catching up to do in the area of rehabilitation and inclusion. This is why Fabiana Faleiros founded the "Neurorehab" research group. In collaboration with German and Latin American colleagues (including numerous KAAD alumni), they have developed a multilingual information portal on the Internet for people with disabilities, their relatives and rehabilitation professionals, which they are constantly updating with new content.
Fabiana Faleiros is also a co-founder of our Latin American alumni group "Salud Global", which was only founded in November 2019 at a KAAD seminar abroad. Alumni from various countries came to Ribeirão Preto at the invitation of the University of São Paulo. On this occasion too, the young scientist used her organisational talent and good ideas to ensure excellent starting conditions for this KAAD group.
