The Board of Directors of Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), a Social Organization that has a Management Contract with the Ministry of Education (MEC), made official on June 20, 2018 the appointment of Reginaldo Antônio de Oliveira Freitas Júnior for the position of General Director of the Institution. He will succeed Theodoro Paraschiva, who led the Institute for the last four years.

Reginald is doctor and since 2014 he has served as Director of Teaching and Research from ISD. Specialist in Fetal Medicine, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Medicine (1996) and Law (2015) from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and a Doctorate in Medical Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto at the University of São Paulo (USP). He has a specialization in Business Management (MBA) from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and in Education for Health Professions from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) / Instituto FAIMER Brasil. He is currently Associate Professor IV at the Department of Tocogynecology at UFRN and advisor to the Postgraduate Programs in Neuroengineering (ISD) and Health Education (UFRN).

Reginaldo's predecessor in the General Directorate of ISD, Theodoro Paraschiva, from now on assumes a position in the Administrative Council of the Institute, as indicated by the Council itself. His management was marked by the consolidation of ISD as a Social Organization and the completion of infrastructure works at the Campus do Cérebro, in Macaíba (RN), which made it possible to begin occupying the complex in March of that year.

The Santos Dumont Institute is grateful for the work and dedication of Theodoro Paraschiva and wishes the new General Director, Reginaldo Freitas Júnior, much success in this cycle that is now beginning.

Official note from ISD General Director, Reginaldo Freitas Júnior

It is with a great sense of responsibility that I assume the important role of directing the Santos Dumont Institute. I have lived with this institution since its implementation and have been able to follow its growth and consolidation, its many victories and its great challenges.

I am aware that ISD's greatest strength comes from the commitment and passion of the people who work there and the robustness of the partnerships we establish to achieve our mission of promoting education for life and full citizenship.

I am grateful to the Institute's Board of Directors and, in a very special way, to its President Miguel Nicolelis, for the trust placed in me; and to my predecessor, Theodoro Paraschiva, for the friendship built and learning in the exercise of management, in an ethical and responsible manner. I also thank the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), in the persons of the Rector Angela Maria Paiva Cruz and the ISD Vice-Rector and Advisor José Daniel Diniz Melo, for the institutional support for my work with ISD.

The ISD has a mandate to social responsability to be fulfilled and this must be the guiding principle for everyone invested in its management. It is essential to strengthen the communion of strategic objectives with the Public Power to respond to social demands, notably with Ministries of Education, Health and Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications, our main institutional partners.

I therefore begin this new cycle at the institution with the conviction that the scientific and technological development of our country is inseparable from human development and strengthening the principles of democracy, from the ethic and the social inclusion. Let these be the guidelines for our actions at the head of ISD.

Sincerely,

Reginaldo Freitas Junior
General Director of the Santos Dumont Institute