Luís

Mendão

Luís Mendão completed his studies in Biochemistry in 1983 at the Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris. He was diagnosed as HIV-positive and with AIDS and hepatitis C in 1996. He is currently Director of Advocacy, Health Policies and External Relations of GAT – Activists Treatment Group, an NGO founded in 2001 that works in the area of HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and drug policy, with a view to prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and support for people infected and affected by these infections. He is on the Board of Coalition PLUS and
WHA – World Hepatitis Alliance. He was founder and leader of the Anti-Prohibitionist Association (SOMA-APA). He represented Portugal at the CSF - Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS at the European Commission and was President ("Chair") of the EATG - European AIDS Treatment Group. He is also a member of the "Steering Committee" of the VIHPortugal initiative.In 2015, he was decorated as Commander of the Order of Santiago by the President of the
Republic, for relevant services in universal access to the treatment of Hepatitis C.
In 2023 he received the Gold Medal of Merit on Health by the Minister of Health.
He has been a community consultant for the WHO Europe - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, the EMCDDA - European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the ECDC - European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and EMA - European Medicines Agency.