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Alexandra de Castro Vasconcelos
Alexandra de Castro Vasconcelos, MD, PhD, is a paediatrician and researcher at the Global Health & Tropical Medicine (GHTM) of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT) at NOVA University Lisbon. She completed her PhD in 2023 in the field of Tropical Medicine, with years of dedication to the global health of children and young people.
She has competence in Pharmaceutical Medicine, recognised by the Portuguese Medical Association, and has been a consultant for INFARMED for over two decades. She currently chairs the Social Paediatrics Section (SPS) of the Portuguese Paediatric Society (SPP) and, since 2024, has been a member of Women in Global Health - Lusophone Community (WGH-CL).
Her areas of interest and expertise include tropical medicine and paediatric infectiology, pharmaceutical medicine and social paediatrics.
Tropical Medicine and Paediatric Infection
Between 2018 and 2020, she was a hospital assistant in the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Unit at the Dona Estefânia Hospital of the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário Lisboa Central. In 2023, she completed her PhD in Tropical Medicine at IHMT - Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, with a thesis focused on analysing maternal and neonatal health in contexts of limited resources, specifically in São Tomé and Príncipe. The study identified causes and risk factors associated with perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the country.
For the excellence of her work, she received the Professor Doutor Cruz Ferreira Award (best PhD student in Tropical Medicine in 2023) and the Garcia de Orta Excellence Award (best PhD student at IHMT-UNL in 2023).
With more than two decades of experience, she has actively participated in paediatric cooperation projects, especially in African countries, reinforcing her commitment to child health in disadvantaged contexts.
Pharmaceutical Medicine
She has been a consultant for INFARMED for more than 20 years and holds a certificate in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the Portuguese Medical Association. Since 2013, she has been a member of the Medicines Evaluation Commission (CAM), making a significant contribution to the regulation of medicines in Portugal.
Social Paediatrics
During her internship at the Hospital Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca, EPE, she was a founding member of the Hospital Centre for the Support of Children and Young People at Risk (NHACJR), monitoring cases of physical and/or sexual abuse. Since then, she has carried out educational initiatives, lectures and training in the field of social paediatrics.
Since 2013, she has been a member of the SPP's Social Paediatrics Section (SPS), currently as president. She has also been an active member of the organising and scientific committees of the International Congress on Children and Adolescents (ICCA) since its creation in 2017.
She is also responsible for coordinating the SPS/SPP Nap Project, which culminated in the publication of national recommendations for napping at pre-school age in 2017.
Scientific activity
Scientific activity: she is the author and co-author of several scientific articles published in high-impact international peer-reviewed journals.
Mission and values
Throughout her career, she has maintained a commitment to the global health and well-being of children and young people, contributing to the advancement of research, clinical practice and international cooperation.