Joaquim Brites

Joaquim Brites is the President of APN (Portuguese Neuromuscular Association) since 2012. Born in Leiria, Portugal, he is 63 years old, married and has two children, one of them, a boy 32 years old, with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. An active Patient Advocate in Neuromuscular Disorders and rare diseases, he was President of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Alliance of Rare Disease Associations between 2012 and 2021 and was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee and of the Installing Committee of the New National Representative Organization of the Rare Disease Associations in Portugal. Currently, he still represents Portugal in the Rare Diseases Platform in France and remains a representative of the Portuguese neuromuscular patients in several European organizations. He is a member of several EURO-NMD working groups, and a member of Treat-NMD, both as an individual and in representation of APN. At the national level, he is a member of the Commission for Inclusion Policies for People with Disabilities of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, a founding Member of the Platform SIP-PT (Societal Impact of Pain – Portugal), a member of the Mission Structure for the Promotion of Accessibilities, representing motor disability, a member of the Monitoring Committee of the National Strategy for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities, and a member of the National Health Council, representing APN.