HYPERTENSION AND CARDIOVASCULAR NEURONAL DYSFUNCTION
The Hypertension and Cardiovascular Neuronal Dysfunction Research Group has been carrying out research on hypertension and related conditions. The group is composed of experienced internists, full members of CCUL, and several co-investigators (listed in the team section), including a medical geneticist.
All researchers are directly or indirectly affiliated with the Lisbon School of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, and Santa Maria University Hospital, CHULN, E.P.E. The group operates within the facilities of the Department of Internal Medicine at Santa Maria University Hospital, to which all members have full access and where most of them work on a daily basis. The group is led by Prof. Carlos Moreira and Prof. Braz Nogueira. Prof. Moreira coordinates the Vascular Laboratory of the Internal Medicine Department, while the scientific component of the projects is conducted by both Prof. Moreira and Prof. Nogueira, who bring particular expertise in hypertension and non-invasive vascular studies. The neuronal dysfunction research line is led by Prof. Ducla Soares, a recognized expert in autonomic dysfunction. Although interconnected in several aspects, the two areas of research address distinct objectives.
In hypertension, the group focuses particularly on white coat hypertension and on the relationship between hypertension and other diseases, including stroke, sleep apnea, chronic hepatitis C, and psoriasis. The CCUL Research Group aims to advance the understanding of the pathophysiology, clinical and imaging characterization, and treatment of hypertension and cardiovascular neuronal dysfunction across several conditions. The group benefits from its extensive clinical experience, the large number of patients referred to the Hypertension Unit of the Internal Medicine Department at a tertiary hospital (CHULN), and expertise in managing complex diseases such as severe hypertension and stroke.
The Research Group actively promotes multidisciplinary collaboration between medical and surgical specialties as well as with the research facilities established at the CAML.
The main goal of the Unit is to generate knowledge that supports the determination of pre-treatment risk, serial measures of cardiovascular integrity during and after treatment of hypertension and other systemic diseases, and the assessment of cardiovascular risk in neuronal dysfunction.
RESEARCH TEAM
Moreira, Carlos S. MD, PhD
GROUP LEADER
Carlos Moreira obtained his Medical Degree from the Lisbon School of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa (1978), where he later earned his PhD in Internal Medicine. He is Senior Internal Medicine Consultant at Santa Maria Hospital, CHULN, Lisbon, serving as Coordinator of the Arsenio Cordeiro Laboratory outpatient unit (since 2008) and co-Coordinator of the inpatient Internal Medicine Unit (since 2019).
He has been Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the Lisbon School of Medicine (since 2009) and Coordinator of General Pathology at the Nursing Course of the Catholic University. He also served as President of the Commission of Auditory and Quality of the Portuguese Medical Association (2014–2017) and has been a member of several technical committees of the Portuguese Quality Institute. Since 2011, he has chaired the Good Clinical Practice Commission, and since 2010 he has acted as Consultant to the Directorate-General of Health. He is also a member of the Portuguese Society of Hypertension.
His main research areas include hypertension and biomarkers of cardiovascular risk factors in disease.
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1816-9579
E-mail: carlos.moreira@medicina.ulisboa.pt
Aguiar, Patrício, MD, PhD
Researcher
Patrício graduated at Lisbon University Medical School in 2006 and completed his trainee in Internal Medicine, in 2017, at Centro Hospitalar e Universitário Lisboa Norte. He completed his PhD at Lisbon University Medical School (biomarkers of Anderson-Fabry disease), in 2018, in partnership with the University College of London. He performs the evaluation and follow up of patients with inherited metabolic disorders, mainly lysosomal storage disorders and inborn errors of lipid metabolism. He is also member of the core team of one of the national reference centre in inherited metabolic disorders (Unidade Local de Santa Maria), integrated in the MetabERN (European Reference Network for inherited metabolic disorders), as well as member of the board of the rare diseases study group of the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine. His main research areas are Lysosomal Storage Disorders, familial dyslipidaemias and Autonomic Nervous System Diseases, with several ongoing research projects on AndersonFabry disease (AFD) biomarkers and immunogenicity against recombinant proteins used for enzyme replacement therapy and neuroimaging prodromic signs of Parkinsonism in Gaucher disease. In 2014, he was awarded the prize of the Federation for the Development of Internal Medicine in Europe for research in the field of rare disorders. He is Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at Lisbon University Medical School and has published more than 50 articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals and presented more than 250 communications in national and international conferences and meetings.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2393-3463
Email: patricio.aguiar@campus.ul.pt
Also Co-Principal Investigator of the Molecular Medicine in Dyslipidaemia and Diabetes Unit
Alcântara, Ana Paula, MD
Researcher
Ana Paula completed her Medical Degree at the Lisbon School of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, in 1988. She undertook her general internship in 1989 and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Medicina I Department of Santa Maria Hospital, CHULN, Lisbon, between 1991 and 1996, where she has since developed her entire clinical practice. She obtained her Consultant degree in 2008 and, since 2007, has been teaching Medicine to medical students at the Lisbon School of Medicine.
Her main research and clinical interests lie in hypertension and cardiovascular medicine, with a focus on cardiovascular risk factors. She has participated in over 100 research projects, authored more than 28 published papers as first author, and delivered over 150 presentations at national and international meetings. She is also the author of eight book chapters in six medical volumes on cardiovascular medicine.
In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the Bial Prize in Clinical Investigation in 1994.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9540-5163
E-mail: palcantara@net.sapo.pt
Alcântara, Cristina, MD
Researcher
Fonseca, Inês, MD
Researcher
Nascimento, Milton, MD
Researcher