Getting to Know Dr. Fernando Mendes Filho: From Brazilian Sunshine to Radiology
April 28, 2025
When Dr. Fernando Augusto de Albuquerque Mendes Filho—yes, it’s a mouthful, but we promise he’s as friendly as his name is long—first considered a move to the U.S., he had three things in mind: great people, a collegial environment, and absolutely minimal snow. Now officially a Clinical Instructor in the MSK section at ’s Department of Radiology, he’s found all three (plus the added bonus of excellent Southern food). Born and raised in northeast Brazil, Fernando grew up in a small town where his father was a local physician and a pillar of the community—the kind of doctor who held consultations in the family garage. From watching his dad care for neighbors to seeing patients drive up to the house for help, Fernando was inspired early by medicine’s power to build trust and serve a community. And though young Fernando once dreamed of being a professional soccer player (we mean footballer), the uncertainty on that path (“I was not that good anyway”) nudged him toward the books—and eventually, into medicine. He landed on Radiology not through textbooks but through curiosity. “During my rotations, whether it was OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Neurology, or Orthopedics, we would have a patient and a question,