The infrastructure available to the SCA Program for research includes the Healthcare Academic Complex of HCFMRP / FMRP / FAEPA. This complex, located in the macro-region of Ribeirão Preto (Northeast of the State of São Paulo), encompasses three high-complexity hospital units of the Unified Health System (SUS) (HCFMRP, HC Criança, and Emergency Unit), interconnected with 10 medium-complexity healthcare units (Health-School Centers, Women’s Health Centers, State Hospitals located in strategic cities of the macro-region, and the Blood Bank Center). This network of high and medium-complexity services is connected to 12 affiliated primary health care units and family health centers (https://site.hcrp.usp.br/complexo-de-saude/). This highly efficient and well-structured health complex serves as a teaching-learning environment for several pediatric health research projects of the Program.

HCFMRP-USP is a hospital specialized in high-complexity care, with 915 beds, including 169 in the Emergency Unit (UE). The Emergency Unit is a referral tertiary emergency care facility, with 41 pediatric beds distributed as follows: 16 in the Pediatric Ward, 8 in the Infectious Diseases Ward, 8 in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and 9 in the Pediatric Emergency Room.

HC-Criança (HCC) began operations in 2017, occupying its own 6,000 m² building, adjacent to HCFMRP-USP. The five-story building houses 55 consultation rooms and 213 beds, with 177 expected to be operational in 2025. It offers outpatient care, inpatient clinical care, neonatal and pediatric ICU, as well as complex procedures such as pediatric chemotherapy (1,645 sessions in 2024), dialysis, cardiac surgeries, and pediatric transplants (bone marrow, kidney, and liver). In 2024, the hospital performed 58,765 outpatient visits and 5,264 high-complexity hospitalizations, covering 22 pediatric specialties. HCC has significantly strengthened the Program’s healthcare, teaching, and research environments.

The Pediatrics Laboratory of HCFMRP-USP supports research conducted by the SCA Program and other programs at FMRP-USP. With 474 m², it includes laboratory areas for Biochemistry, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Oncology (Cytogenetics), and Rheumatology. It is equipped with Millipore water purification systems, biorepositories, -80°C freezers, ELISA readers, Western Blot systems, electrophoresis equipment, Chemidoc, conventional and qPCR thermocyclers, optical and fluorescence microscopes, refrigerated centrifuges, laminar flow hoods, and CO₂ incubators. The Pediatric Oncology sector has a dedicated cell culture room (level 1). The Metals and Rare Diseases sector includes atomic absorption spectrophotometers, a mass spectrometer, and a gas chromatograph.

Additionally, the program includes two advanced pediatric research centers. The Center for the Study of Maternal and Neonatal Infections (NEIMPI) is a multicenter and international research group founded in 2002, linked to the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of FMRP-USP. NEIMPI supports international multicenter clinical studies in maternal and child health and receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. To date, it has developed 68 clinical research projects and benefited over 7,000 research participants (https://neimpi.fmrp.usp.br/).

Also noteworthy is NESCA – Center for the Study of Child and Adolescent Health (https://nesca.fmrp.usp.br/), which conducts studies based on the prospective birth cohort follow-up from Ribeirão Preto and São Luís, in partnership with the Federal University of Maranhão and the Federal University of Pelotas. The initial studies from the 1970s were followed by the BRISA project, a longitudinal observational study in pediatrics.

As physical infrastructure support for the program, the Department of Pediatrics (DPP) provides computers with internet access for students and advisors, enabling access to electronic journals, e-books, and USP and CAPES databases. The Program has an exclusive room for graduate students on the 5th floor of HCC, equipped with three computers, a meeting table, lockers, and printers. Adjacent to this room is the department’s statistician, Dr. Davi Aragon, who assists with statistical analyses for the studies.

The DPP also offers four classrooms (149 seats) and six meeting rooms (86 seats) at HCC, all equipped with computers, projectors, and web conferencing facilities. The SCA Program is supported by a secretary (Ms. Vera Lucia da Andrade Hamanaka).

For virtual learning, students have access to the platform (https://cursosextensao.usp.br/dashboard/), which offers online (synchronous and asynchronous) classes, forums, assessments, and feedback.