Personal Presentation

Ana Luísa Patrão | Patrão, A. L. | PhD in Health Psychology

Ana Luísa Patrão is currently an Assistant Researcher (CEEC Individual FCT) at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP), belonging to the Centre of Psychology of the University of Porto (CPUP), specifically to the Sexuality and Gender Research Group. Here, among other academic and research activities, she leads the project entitled "GLOB_SEX_HEALTH - Global Sexual Health Promotion in Universities: A cross-cultural longitudinal study of the relations between gender inequality and adversity, self-efficacy, and sexual risk behaviours among college students in Portugal, Brazil, and Mozambique”. She teaches and collaborates in various subjects related to Health Promotion and Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, the Master's Degree in Sexology, and the Doctoral Programme in Human Sexuality.

Additionally, she is a Collaborating Professor at the Institute of Collective Health at the Federal University of Bahia - ISC/UFBa (Brazil), and an Investigator of ELSA-Brasil (Longitudinal Study of Adult Health in Brazil), the largest study on adult health in Brazil and South America. She is also a member of the research team of the 100 Million Brazilians Cohort for the study of breast and cervical cancer and for violence against women, including femicide (UFBA and FIOCRUZ).

Previously, she was an Integrated Visiting Professor (2016-2020) and Postdoctoral Researcher (2014-2016) in Public Health at ISC/UFBa (Brazil), with a CAPES Research Grant, under the "Science without Borders - Attracting Young Talent to Brazil" Programme. She completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology (2007-2012), at the School of Psychology, University of Minho, in collaboration with the Central Hospital of Beira (Mozambique), with the thesis entitled " "AIDS Prevention and health promotion in Mozambican Women: risk behaviours predictors and study the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention", funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/ BD/37909/2007).  

She actively collaborates with the research group at the Health Promotion Research Centre (University of Galway, Ireland), a World Health Organization collaborating center for research in Health Promotion, where she was a Visiting Researcher from April to June 2025.

Throughout her career, she has participated in several funded research projects, as well as developed teaching activities in Portugal, Brazil, and Mozambique. Her main research interests combine the psychosocial dimensions of health, social change and health, and health and gender inequality. She works scientifically in the areas of Health Psychology, Health Promotion (Sexual, Reproductive, and Lifestyle Related), Public Health, and Global Health.