Brazil Studies Program names first class of Lemann Fellows

Visiting Professor of History Kenneth Maxwell, director of the Brazil Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS), recently announced the first class of Harvard’s 2006-07 Jorge Paulo Lemann Fellows.

Funded by a generous multiyear gift from Jorge Paulo Lemann ’61, the Lemann Fellowships afford Brazilians who work or aspire to work as professionals in public health, public policy, or education the opportunity for advanced study and training through a degree program or an executive education program at Harvard University. The aim is to help build a stronger, more effective public sector in Brazil. Eligible incoming students automatically participate in the annual selection process for the Lemann Fellowships following their admission. Fellowships are awarded by the University Committee on General Scholarships.

Merilee Grindle, director of the David Rockefeller Center, welcomed the Lemann fellows. “This is a marvelous program and demonstrates the many ways Harvard is engaging with and contributing to Brazil’s development in critical areas such as education and public health,” she said.

The Lemann Fellowships may also be awarded to students of any nationality at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences whose study and dissertations focus on an aspect of Brazil.

The 2006-07 Lemann Fellows

Ana Gabriela Machado Pessoa will be working toward a master’s degree in international education policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). She is interested in seeking education reform in Brazil through ethical and innovative educational management practices. Previously, she worked at the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial in Rio de Janeiro. She received a B.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003.

Felipe Fregni is pursuing a master’s degree in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). He is an instructor in neurology at the Harvard Medical School’s (HMS) Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, as well as a fellow with the Scholars in Clinical Science Program at HMS. He has published works on a wide variety of topics, ranging from antidepressants and Parkinson’s disease to language and motor imitation. He completed his M.D. in 1999 and his Ph.D. in psychiatry/neuroscience in 2004 from the University of São Paulo Medical School.

Guilherme de Sousa Ribeiro is pursuing his M.S. in epidemiology at HSPH and has been accepted into a Ph.D. program in investigative medicine with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil. He intends to address public health problems in Brazil that have arisen as a consequence of rapid urbanization and growing social inequality. He received his M.D. from the School of Medicine at the Federal University of Bahia, where he has been in residency since graduating in 2002.

Danyela Souza Moron is pursuing a master’s in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. Her proposed plan of study will focus on reducing poverty through promoting collaboration between social entrepreneurs and government actors. Previously she was at the Brazil Foundation in New York, where she worked for three years. In 2002, she received an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo.

Bruno Carvalho will spend spring 2007 researching in Rio de Janeiro. He is a third-year graduate student and teaching fellow in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the intersections between urban development and cultural production in 20th century Brazil. A native of Rio de Janeiro, he received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 2004.

Patricia I. Vieira will spend spring 2007 researching in São Paulo. She is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard. She is finishing her Ph.D. dissertation on political fiction and art in Latin America and Portugal. She received her B.A. in modern languages and literatures from the University of Lisbon in 1999 and her M.A. in European culture from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 2000. In 2003, she completed her A.M. in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Harvard.