Joana Rita Ramalho Alves

Dr. Joana Rita Ramalho Alves is an Assistant Researcher at NOVA National School of Public Health within NOVA University Lisbon. She holds concurrent research appointments at the Centro de Investigação em Saúde Pública (CISP) and Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC). Previously, she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at her home institution and worked as a consultant at Deloitte. She contributes to national health policy through roles on the Commission for Health Technology Assessment and National Health Council.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Public Health from NOVA NSPH, complemented by a Master's and Bachelor's in Economics from NOVA School of Business and Economics.

Dr. Alves's research examines critical issues in health economics and public health, with emphasis on:

• Socioeconomic inequalities in health behaviors (particularly smoking)
• Behavioral economics applications in healthcare
• Health technology assessment methodologies
• Impact of COVID-19 on health disparities
• Population-level analysis of musculoskeletal disorders

Her recent publications demonstrate consistent focus on health disparities, with 5 publications in 2024 alone addressing pandemic-related workforce challenges, diagnostic technology assessment, and back pain epidemiology. This reflects sustained productivity with 67+ research outputs since 2013.

She leads research initiatives through the CISP laboratory and is currently accepting PhD students for supervision.