André Peralta Santos

André Peralta-Santos is an Invited Assistant Professor at the NOVA National School of Public Health (ENSP NOVA), specializing in research on the impact of external shocks on health systems. His research focuses on the consequences of infectious diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential, both for health systems and population health. He is dedicated to improving the design and implementation of health policies that strengthen surveillance and responses to emerging health threats.

His recent work investigates the empirical effects of COVID-19 on the Portuguese Health System, analysing factors ranging from the severity of emerging variants to the consequences of delays in healthcare delivery.

He served as Director of Information and Analysis (2020–2021) at the Directorate-General of Health and currently serves as Deputy Director-General of Health. His experience also includes working as a Public Health Specialist for the Regional Health Administration of Alentejo and providing consultancy services to the World Health Organization, the European Parliament, and several international organisations.

He holds a PhD from the University of Washington, a degree in Medicine from NOVA Medical School, and a Master’s degree in Public Health from ENSP NOVA. He also holds a postgraduate qualification in Clinical and Epidemiological Research from Harvard Medical School. He previously worked as a research assistant at the University of Washington and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship.