Sandra Martins Pereira, Bioethicist, is Professor with Aggregation in Health Sciences, Technology and Well-Being by the University of Évora. Currently, she is Research Coordinator (equivalent to Full Professor) in Supportive, Survivorship, Palliative and End-of-Life Care Research and Coordinator of the Public Health Palliative Care Research Team at FUNDACAO GASPAR FRUTUOSO, UNIVERSIDADE DOS AÇORES (UAc), and Integrated Researcher at CEEAplA, UAc. She was FCT Principal Investigator (Research Associate Professor) at CEGE, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), April 2019-April 2025, where she led Palliative Care and Cancer Research within the Ethics and Sustainability Research Area. She was Director of the Institute of Bioethics, coordinator of the Ph.D. Program in Bioethics, Associate Professor of Bioethics, and member of the Board of Directors of the Faculty of Medicine at UCP.

Sandra was awarded a Ph.D. in Bioethics (UCP); a Post-doctorate (3-year) in Bioethics Empirical Research (UCP); a Master in Bioethics (UCP); a Post-graduation in Palliative Care (IPVC-ESS); a BSc in Education Sciences (University of Porto); and a BSc in Nursing (Nursing College of Porto). Sandra was Post-doctoral Research Fellow (Experienced Researcher) within the EU FP7 Marie Curie ITN funded project Euro-Impact (Vrije Universiteit Medisch Centrum Amsterdam, Netherlands). She was Visiting Researcher at the End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium), the Klinik für Palliativmedizin, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen (Germany), and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum (Netherlands); and Visiting Professor at the Palliative and Supportive Care Service, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Université de Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne (Switzerland).

Sandra is PI and Team Leader in Portugal of EU-funded projects focused on implementing the EU strategic Missions in Health, Cancer, and Ethics in Science. She integrates three research areas.

First, the implementation of EU strategic Mission in Health and the EU Cancer Mission, including understanding cancer, prevention and early detection, treatment, palliative care and quality of life, through studies on (i) Medical, Cancer and Health Research, (ii) the Ethical dimensions of Supportive, Survivorship, Palliative, and End-of-Life Care Research, including end-of-life decisions and decision-making processes and outcomes, and (iii) the integration of palliative care across healthcare settings (e.g., cancer, intensive care, burns, psychiatry, dementia, chronic diseases). Studies incorporate: (i) ethical, sociocultural and policy analysis; (ii) participatory research methods, including co-design for the development of health policies with different stakeholders and end-users; (iii) implementation science methodologies, strategies, and outcomes; and (iv) conducting and evaluating international and complex healthcare interventions in large clinical trials (e.g., stepped wedged randomized controlled trials, cluster randomized controlled trials).

Second, the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) theories, methodologies, and frameworks, including Bioethics Empirical Research, to different fields of Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences.

Third, the Ethics in Health, Science and Technology strategic area by combining three core research components: (i) Research Ethics and Integrity in Science, (ii) Healthcare (research) Ethics and Clinical Ethical Decision-making, and (iii) Ethics in Science with and for Society.

She acts as Independent External Ethics Advisor, member of International Advisory Boards and Data Management Committees of various EU-funded projects, and Scientific and Ethics Evaluator for international funding agencies.

Sandra was the 1st Portuguese citizen to be voted to the Board of Directors of the European Association for Palliative Care where she was Vice-President (2019-2023).

The quality of her work has been widely recognized. One of her projects on decision-making in end-of-life care was awarded, in 2018, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence by the European Commission (EC). In 2019, the EC recognised Sandra as one of the FP7 Marie (Sklodowska-)Curie actions M(S)CA People programme researchers with an exceptional career path for research. In 2021, as a recognition of her work in Research and Academia, Sandra was selected to integrate a worldwide report on the “World Health Day 2021” published by WHPCA, IAHPC and ICPCN, three worldwide associations in palliative care.

Sandra pursues high-quality research and outputs that positively influence healthcare practices and policies with a meaningful societal impact. 

  Entidades de I&D

CEEAplA - Centro de Estudos de Economia Aplicada do Atlântico

  Entidades Financiadoras

Comissão Europeia

Direção Regional da Ciência e da Tecnologia