This Friday, December 3, 2021, the founder of Instituto Santos Dumont (ISD), neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis, will be honored by the State Government of Rio Grande do Norte. He and 19 other personalities from different areas will be awarded the Potiguar Merit Medal for Economic Development. The commendation will be delivered by Governor Fátima Bezerra and by Economic Development Secretary Jaime Calado to businessmen, public agents and members of civil society who contribute to advances in the economy, generating jobs and income for the population of Rio Grande do Norte.

The award ceremony of the Potiguar Merit for Economic Development medals will take place from 4 pm at the Albano Franco Auditorium, at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of Rio Grande do Norte (Fiern), with live transmission on Youtube. Prof. Miguel Nicolelis will not attend the ceremony in person. Isolated in São Paulo due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the city where he has lived since he retired from activities at Duke University, in the United States, he recorded a message of thanks to Governor Fátima Bezerra and Secretary Jaime Calado.

“To thank the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Norte for paying homage to me and to all those who participated in this, which is perhaps the largest non-profit private scientific project in the State and one of the largest in Brazil, and that in the year that come, in November, will complete 20 years. It's been 20 years of great achievements, of a project that created the motto of science as an agent of social transformation in Brazil, won over the country and made news around the world over these two decades, not only producing cutting-edge science that was published in the best scientific journals in the world, but also in a social mission that included, for 10 years, an educational project that assisted 1,500 children a year in Rio Grande do Norte. As well as the Anita Garibaldi Health Center, which since 2008 has served almost 50,000 mothers and children free of charge in Macaíba, being a regional and national reference in the treatment and management of high-risk pregnancies and other maternal and child pathologies”, declares the scientist. Miguel Nicolelis.

Miguel Angelo Laporta Nicolelis was born on March 7, 1961, in São Paulo (SP). He graduated in Medicine from the University of São Paulo (USP), where he received a doctorate in Science. The post-doctorate in Physiology and Biophysics was done in the United States, at Hahnemann University. He retired as a professor at Duke University, in the United States, in 2021. He is the founder of the International Institute of Neurosciences of Natal-Edmond and Lily Safra (IINN-ELS) and of the Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita), ISD units, located in the rural area of Macaíba (RN).

Regarding the tribute, Nicolelis adds: “I would like to thank you again for this tribute. We are all very proud of everything that has been achieved in these 20 years and we hope that the future will be even grander and that it can bring great pride to the people of Rio Grande do Norte and Brazilians in general for everything that is done in for science as an agent of social transformation. 

honorees

The Potiguar Merit Medal for Economic Development 2021 will be delivered to:

André Luciano Sudário Prado – President of Junior Achievement of RN;

Cicília Raquel Maia Leite – Rector of the State University of Rio Grande do Norte (UERN);

Eduardo Queiroz Monteiro – CEO of Usina Estivas;

Fátima de Lima Torres – president of the National Union of Cooperatives of Family Agriculture and Solidarity Economy (Unicafes/RN);

Fernando Luiz Gonçalves Bezerra – civil construction entrepreneur;

Jair Paulino Maia – retail entrepreneur; 

Jair Urbano de Queiroz – vice-president of the Federation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (Fecomércio/RN);

Jairo Amorim – Industrial Executive Director of Guararapes Têxtil; 

João Leal Eulálio – CEO of Armil Mineração; 

José Daniel Diniz Melo – Rector of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN); 

José Cordeiro de Lucena Neto- President of the Chamber of Shopkeepers (CDL/Natal);

Katia Harrop Galvão da Fonseca – managing director of Indústria Becker; 

Leonlene de Sousa Aguiar – president of the Development and Environment Institute (Idema/RN);

Pedro Gilson Dias de Araújo – President of the Association of Fishing Boat Owners (Aspern);

Professor Miguel Nicolelis – founder of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD); 

Rita Saldanha Dantas dos Santos – director of Escola Única Master;

Robert Klein – director of Voltalia Energia do Brasil;

José Roberto Nogueira – founder and president of BrisaNet and Nossa Fruta;

Roberto Sérgio Ribeiro Linhares – CEO of Caern; 

Rodrigo Diniz de Mello – Director of the Senai Innovation Institute.