Teresinha Evangelista – EURO-NMD Coordinator

Dr Teresinha Evangelista has over 20 years’ experience working as a Neurologist and later as a Consultant at the Neurosciences Department of the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon. These roles have been completed in conjunction with research work as a member of the Neuromuscular Research Unit at the Institute of Molecular Medicine as well as has ab Invited Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at Lisbon University in addition to a range of other teaching and advisory posts.

After working in Paris, at the Unit 153 of INSERM (“Développement, Pathologie, Régénération du Système Neuromusculaire”) under the direction of Professor Michel Fardeau and having finish a post-graduation in Neuropathology has set a fully equipped Neuromuscular Laboratory at the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon. The establishment of this laboratory has stimulated the activity within the field of Clinical Neuromuscular research at other facilities in Portugal. The laboratory became a Reference Laboratory for the South of Portugal. Dr Teresinha Evangelista played an important role in the development of a diagnostic network for Neuromuscular Diseases during the years working in Portugal and was appointed as President of the Portuguese Society for The Study of Neuromuscular Diseases in 2009 in recognition of status as a leading reference for Neuromuscular Diseases in Portugal. It was also appointed as a member of the “Centro Nacional Coordenador do Diagnóstico e Tratamento de Doenças Lisosomais (CNCDTDL)” – (National Centre for the Coordination on Diagnosis & Treatment of Lysosomal Disorders).

Her work currently focuses on clinical and research work on hereditary muscle diseases, FSHD and Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes. Simultaneously as a member of the Joint Actions for rare diseases (EUCERD Joint Action and RD-Action), developed a particular interest on Rare Diseases policies. As a result of the policy work become responsible for the concept and setting up of the neuromuscular ERN (EURO-NMD) that integrates 61 healthcare providers from across Europe.

Thus far, she has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers and 5 book chapters. She has given many invited lectures at meetings, symposiums and workshops as well as patient/parent organizations meetings.

She has successfully applied for grant applications, including: Prevalence and severity of fatty liver in morbid obesity: correlation and mechanisms related with the role of ectopic fat and insulin resistance. Histological and biochemical characterization of skeletal muscle of morbidly obese patients. FCT project (PTDC/SAU-OMS/100878/2008); Faculty of Medicine Grant (GAPIC – project number 201100030): “Characterization of pattern of cellular death of muscle fibres in inflammatory myopathies”); European Reference Network for Rare Neuromuscular Diseases (EURO-NMD). She was involved in multiple EU projects, e.g. NeurOmics (FP7); The EUCERD Joint Action: Working for Rare Diseases (N° 2011 22 01); RD-Action: joint action 677024 (European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020)). She was involved in organizing multiple seminal workshops and meetings.