Angolan National Awarded Best Student of Tropical and Clinical Medicine in Portugal

Lisbon: Brígida Ferreira dos Santos, an Angolan student, will be awarded the Professor Doctor Cruz Ferreira Prize in Lisbon, Portugal, as the best doctoral student in the field of tropical and clinical medicine. According to Angola Press News Agency, the prize will be awarded after a decision by the Academic Merit Awards Committee of the Portuguese Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT). This recognition comes after dos Santos successfully defended her doctoral thesis in 2024 at IHMT, focusing on "Identification of Genetic Modifiers in Children with Sickle Cell Anemia in an Endemic Area of Angola." The thesis defense was a requirement for her PhD in Human Genetics and Infectious Diseases, a program in which she was recognized as the top student. The awards ceremony is set for Friday at the IHMT, coinciding with the opening of the 2025/2026 academic year. Brígida Ferreira dos Santos was born in Luanda in 1970. She graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of Agostinho Neto University in Angola and specialized in Pediatrics at Dona EstefSnia Hospital in Lisbon in 2001. From 2006 to 2022, she led the Center for Support to Anemic Patients at the David Bernardino Pediatric Hospital in Luanda. In 2024, she completed her Doctorate in Human Genetics and Infectious Diseases at the Universidade Nova of Lisbon's Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The statement also highlighted her role as the main Angolan investigator in a multicenter study across Angola, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Kenya. The study focuses on "Sickle Cell Disease - efficacy and safety of treatment with Hydroxyurea" in children. Additionally, she served as the chairwoman of the Angolan Society of Hematology.