Pioneer of scientific journalism in Brazil is honored in book

New work offers a collection of articles and reports published by Julio Abramczyk in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and portrays scientific coverage in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

By Karina Toledo

Agência FAPESP – In a little over half a century dedicated to scientific journalism, Julio Abramczyk reported on the eradication of smallpox in Brazil, followed the first vaccination campaign for polio and narrated the agony experienced by Tancredo Neves in his last days.

 

Abramczyk wrote the first articles published in Brazil about cornea transplants, a “new type of radiological exam” known as tomography and “the sound that cannot be heard but makes a diagnosis”: ultrasound.

 

However, it was his article on the first bypass operation for acute myocardial infarction that guaranteed him the 1970 Esso Award, the highest Brazilian journalism prize.

 

These and other stories are in the book Médico e Repórter Meio século de jornalismo científico (Doctor and Reporter: A Half Century of Journalism) released by Publifolha and edited by journalist Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva, communication consultant to FAPESP. 
 

The work offers a collection of articles and reports published by Abramczyk in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper where he has worked since 1959 and currently writes a weekly column, “Plantão Médico” (“Doctor on Call”).

 

The book is split into five thematic chapters: “Public Health”, “Infirmities of the Heart”, “Personal Health”, “Personality Disorders” and “Scientific Journalism.” The presentation of each chapter was edited by such outstanding names in scientific journalism as Marcelo Leite, Claudia Collucci, Almyr Gajardoni, Lins da Silva and Célio da Cunha.

 

“Contrary to what everyone thinks, I did not go from medicine to journalism but from journalism to medicine,” commented Abramczyk in an interview with Agência FAPESP. “I began to work at O Tempo newspaper when I was 17. One day it hit me, and I decided to study medicine.”

 

“When I was a student at Escola Paulista de Medicina medical school, which is now part of Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), I was invited by my former boss at O Tempo, Hugo Penteado Teixeira, to take a job as the writer for the “Biology and Medicine” section at the Folha da Manhã newspaper. The position had been open for months,” said Abramczyk.

 

“They had not been able to find a doctor to take the position and ended up accepting a medical student. It was a section dedicated to publishing news for professionals in the area on congresses and meetings, much like an ‘education’ segment is dedicated to teachers,” he recalled.

 

After graduating, Abramczyk continued to reconcile the hectic life of a newspaper reporter with the equally chaotic routine of a doctor. He specialized in cardiology and, for many years, was one of the directors of Hospital Santa Catarina.

 

“I do not have the faintest idea how many hours my workday was. When you do something for pleasure, you find time for everything,” he affirmed.

 

Every month, Abramczyk went to at least one congress on various areas of study. On a weekly basis, he visited the medical departments and libraries of the main São Paulo universities to find story material.

 

“That was how we managed to [obtain] news at that time. [The] Internet did not exist, and there were no press offices to [provide] sound bites. Interviews were not conducted by phone: it was in person and in a suit and tie,” Abramczyk explained.

 

Vanguard
 

Abramczyk published more than 2,500 texts in Folha de S.Paulo over a period of 53 years. In the 1970s, he warned about the growing problem of alcoholism, the risk of substituting fast food for healthy meals and the importance of breast milk for infant health.

 

Through his texts, he helped to spread knowledge of a newly discovered homemade saline solution. “Before this, people were treated for dehydration only in hospitals. There were lines of mothers with dehydrated children on their laps. Infant mortality due to dehydration was a calamity,” Abramczyk explained.

 

In October of 1970, Abramczyk published a text that detailed a public health official’s discovery of the cause of this malady: a lack of basic sanitation and treated water. The subject had been the highlight of the Brazilian Hygiene Congress. 

 

In 1961, he published a report on a new method to identify viruses in Amazonia: human bait. “…the mosquitos are caught by a person who waits with bare arms and legs for the insect to bite. Before even reaching the body of the human bait, the mosquitos are caught in individual nets…,” narrated Abramczyk in the newspaper article.

 

The method of capture allowed researchers to isolate 1,500 viruses, 22 previously unknown. The report earned the doctor and reporter the São Paulo State Governor’s Award. 

 

During his career, he was also awarded the José Reis Scientific Dissemination Award granted by the National Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq) and the Abradic Scientific Dissemination Award given by the Brazilian Association of Scientific Dissemination. 

 

He presided over the Ibero-American Association of Scientific Journalism and the Brazilian Association of Scientific Journalism, an entity that he helped to create.

 

“[Through] several congresses, seminars and books, Abramczyk made his fundamental contribution to building a theoretical reference for scientific journalism in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula,” highlights Lins da Silva in the book’s introduction. 

 

According the editor, the book is of potential interest to anyone that works in or reads scientific journalism, in addition to people interested in topics in medicine and general science.

 

In comparing the scientific journalism conducted in the last decades of the 20th century to those of today, Lins da Silva affirms that the medical expertise of reporters in the area has improved as a result of greater access to information.

 

“However, it [scientific journalism] has worsened in terms of space and the prominence given to journalistic coverage, which is today much less. Paradoxically, science is increasingly important for [our] country’s development,” he said.
 

Abramczyk also complains about how little information managers value the specialized journalist and offers his technique for being a good reporter in the area: “The journalist should not only disseminate what researchers do. She/he must have a critical vision of the importance of science for the country and help raise awareness among authorities: be on the side of those fighting for more funding for research,” he concluded.