João Morais, research member of the Joint Steering Committee of ciTechCare and Director of the Cardiology Service of the Local Health Unit of the Region of Leiria, was unanimously elected to the position of vice-president of the Guidance and Supervision Council of PtCRIN – Portuguese Network of Infrastructures for Clinical Research, for a three-year term.

PtCRIN is a national consortium that aims to expand national and international cooperation in clinical research through the development of quality studies, focusing on therapeutic innovation for the benefit of patients, citizens and the national health system.

“This election was a big surprise for me, since my name was proposed by the current president of the Guidance and Supervision Council, Professor Emília Monteiro, with whom we have been collaborated since a long time ago. Although this is an individual election, of which I am obviously very proud, it only happens as a corollary of the work we have developed in our Research Center, recognized in the scientific and academic scope”, claims the doctor João Morais, also coordinator of the ULSRL Research Centre.

PtCRIN is the representative in Portugal of ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network), with the consortium’s management team based at Nova Medical School in Lisbon. This organizational model integrates health care units, a non-profit clinical research organization and universities with great involvement in clinical research activities. The main purpose of PtCRIN is the implementation, development and organization of national infrastructures dedicated to clinical research (research centres and clinical trial units) in line with the national health strategy and in accordance with European standards.

João Morais has been a cardiologist since 1988 and has been leading the Cardiology Service at the Hospital Center of Leiria since 2001. He was a member of several organizations of the European Society of Cardiology and six departments of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology, being its honorary president. He was founder of the Unit of Hemodynamics and Cardiovascular Intervention in the former Hospital Center of Leiria, and currently coordinates the Research Center of ULSRL, since its creation in 2014. He is the author and co-author of more than 500 scientific papers in prestigious journals of the specialty, and held more than 600 scientific presentations by invitation in national and international territory. He collaborates with the most important world centers of Cardiology research, and is the responsible creator of the educational platform “Challenges in Cardiology“.