Instituto Dourados

The Instituto Dourados began when researchers from South and North America met at the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD) in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. “Dourados” means “golden” in Portuguese, reflecting both the city itself and our hope of building something enduring and valuable together. Researchers in Brazil and the United States recognized a shared problem: public health systems are often forced to make major decisions with too little coordination, too few resources, and too much uncertainty. Indigenous communities across the Americas continue to suffer disproportionately during public health crises, as the COVID-19 pandemic made painfully clear. We recognized the need for new efforts to bring together epidemiologists and social scientists, and to connect researchers from Brazil and the United States, so they could learn from one another and strengthen scientific ties between the two largest democracies in the Americas—both with rich Indigenous cultural heritage. At the same time, we recognized a shared opportunity to expand the still-limited opportunities for Brazilian and United States students, faculty, and researchers to work together across public health, sustainability, and scientific research. What began as a scientific collaboration is growing into something larger: a long-term partnership focused on public health, education, and scientific cooperation across the Americas in the form of an institution built to last across generations. We are setting out to help vulnerable communities receive better healthcare by building stronger and more resilient public health infrastructure. We will achieve this by translating academic research we performed as postdoctoral fellows with the Stanford Medicine Pandemic Preparedness Hub, supported by our original benefactor, philanthropist Mrs. Jill Freidenrich of Atherton, California. This is not just computing and research infrastructure, but also human capacity infrastructure: we will vigorously build community with educational exchange, community outreach efforts, and publishing public health and educational materials in Guarani and Terena languages spoken at the Dourados Indigenous Reserve. This GoFundMe supports one part of our approximately $250,000 bridge-year funding plan to help Instituto Dourados grow into a durable institution for public health coordination, educational exchange, and scientific research across the Americas. Additional information, including our bridge-year funding plan and budget overview, can be found here: https://institutodourados.org https://gpdamericas.org/institutodourados.html You can also follow our work and future updates through Instituto Dourados and the Generation of Participation in Democracy on LinkedIn and Instagram as we continue building the project. Whether you are contributing because you care about Brazil, Indigenous health, scientific collaboration, sustainable development, or you believe in the power of international community — we are grateful for your support.