Thierry Mertens

Thierry Mertens trained as a medical doctor and epidemiologist. He worked in international public health and clinical medicine in Europe, the Caribbean and Africa in early 1980 before being appointed to the staff of the University of London (LSHTM) in 1985. As such, he worked on health impact evaluation of environmental and structural interventions in South Asia, and on child health and HIV prevention in Burkina Faso, Brazil and Somalia. In 1988, he became Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the London School, taught Epidemiology and coached Masters and PhD students at the School, and the Institute of Child Health until 1991 when he joined the World Health Organization’s Global Program on AIDS.

From 1991, Thierry worked within the United Nations System until 2015. He served as a Representative of the UN Secretary General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme’s Resident Representative. In 2006-2007, He was the World Health Organization (WHO) Special Representative for Public Health in South-East-Asia. Between 1997 and 2006, he was Director of various departments at the World Health Organization’s Headquarters, including the Department of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections and the Centre for Vulnerability Reduction. In June 1995, he served as the WHO Coordinator for the control of Ebola Virus Epidemic in Kikwit, DRC.

He is now Invited Professor at University Nova of Lisbon. His commitment in international research, public health policy and implementation, clinical practice, economic, social and environmental policy development has focused on reducing disparities, ecology and ensuring that governments and citizens engage actively as priority agents of change through collaborative, participatory and transdisciplinary work.

Ongoing Projects:
1. Cohort study in Amadora Child Migrant Health Needs and Access Study 2018; PI Prof. Maria do Rosario Martins.
2. Prevalência de anomalias congénitas e de fatores de risco associados em São Tomé e príncipe; PI Dr. Sara Cordeiro.
3. Assessment of health needs of international migrant children and to develop evidence on how to mitigate children´s health inequities in Portugal, PI Prof. Maria do Rosario Martins.
4. Support to the implementation and monitoring of 2020-2023 Municipal Plan of action for health in Porto- Apoio e suporte à implementação e monitorização do Plano de Ação 2020-2023 do Plano Municipal de Saúde do Porto.
5. Added value of One Health approaches: addressing health risks and benefits at the human-animal-ecosystems interface. Post-doctoral work PI Sara Babo Martins.
6. Strategic Planning for Health in Portugal- Ministry of Health 2020-2030.

Thierry Mertens is co – author of 8 books and 5 book chapters. He contributed to many WHO and UNAIDS publications and to some UNDP and World Bank publications as well as to simulation models of the HIV epidemic and potential prevention programmes. He is author / co – author of more than 110 scientific and health policy contributions of which a majority in International peer-reviewed journals such as Lancet, International of Epidemiology, American Journal of Epidemiology, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Health Policy and Planning, Social Science and Medicine, AIDS, J.AIDS and Retrovirology, Public Health, Indian J. Public Health, Africa Journal etc.

1. Mertens T and Abecasis A. Time to see the forest for the trees: protecting forests could prevent next pandemics and help preserve a common planetary future. Submission process for publication to Nature, June 2020.
2. Dye C, Mertens T, Hirnschall G. et al. (2013). WHO and the future of disease control programmes. The Lancet 381 (9864): 413-418. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)61812-1
3. Gerbase AC, Rowley JT, Mertens TE. (1998). Global epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases. The Lancet 351: S2-S4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(98)90001-0
4. Stonebumer RL, Low-Beer D, Tembo GS, Mertens TE, Asiimwe-Okiror G. (1996). Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Dynamics in East Africa Deduced from Surveillance Data. American Journal of Epidemiology 144 (7): 682-695. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a008981
5. Thierry Mertens, Peter Piot. (1997). The Epidemiology of HIV and AIDS. In AIDS: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention, edited by De Vita V.T., Hellman S., Rosenberg S.A., Curran J., Essex M., Fauci A., 103-118. Philadelphia, United States: Lippincott-Raven.