Ana Filipa Ferreira, Rafael José Vieira, Renato Ferreira Silva and João Vasco Santos, researchers at RISE-Health and FMUP, have been appointed as experts to INFARMED’s Health Technology Assessment Commission (CATS).

With this appointment, the experts will support CATS in fulfilling its “strategic mission to promote well-founded, transparent decisions aimed at enhancing public health and ensuring the sustainability of the National Health Service”, as stated in the orders signed by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation on 6 and 20 July, respectively.

For Rafael José Vieira, one of the RISE-Health experts appointed to the Health Technology Assessment Commission, this appointment “represents an opportunity to contribute directly to ensuring that decisions on access to new health technologies are based on the best available evidence, assessed in a rigorous, transparent and independent manner”.

“This appointment provides a unique platform for linking the research I carry out with its translation into decisions that have a tangible impact on people’s lives. It is also recognition of the collective work we have been building at RISE-Health and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, and confirmation that the research we produce can, and should, serve the public interest”, explains the RISE-Health specialist.

As for Ana Ferreira, also a researcher at RISE-Health and the FMUP, this “appointment represents a unique opportunity for growth, both personally and professionally. As a PhD researcher at an early stage of my scientific career, dedicated to clinical research in academia since 2015, I feel privileged to be part of CATS”.

Among other functions, CATS is responsible for “issuing expert opinions, assessing economic evaluation studies and contributing to the definition of appropriate measures in the field of health technologies”.

According to the documents cited above, strengthening the committee’s membership with “new experts of recognised technical competence and professional experience” aims to “consolidate CATS’s analytical and decision-making capacity, ensuring high-quality assessments in the service of citizens, innovation in healthcare and the sustainability of the healthcare system”.

In addition to the four researchers from RISE-Health, the initiative also involves Anabela Rodrigues, Maria de La Salete Silva and Vânia Oliveira, lecturers at ICBAS-UP.