The Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) (English: National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge) is a public institution under the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 Ministry of Health, with self scientific, technical, administrative, and financial autonomy.

History

Founded in 1899 by physician and humanist Ricardo Jorge (Porto

Porto

Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...

, 1858 - Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, 1939), as a research institution of the Portuguese health system, the INSA has a threefold mission of laboratory in health issues, national reference laboratory and national observatory of health.

Organization

The INSA has operating units in its headquarters in Lisbon, Porto (in two centers: Center for Public Health Doctor Gonçalves Ferreira and Center for Medical Genetics Jacinto Magalhães) and Águas de Moura (Center for Studies on Vectors and Infectious Diseases Dr. Francisco Cambournac).

The INSA is organized in six major departments:

• Department of Food and Nutrition;
• Department of Infectious Diseases;
• Department of Epidemiology;
• Department of Genetics;
• Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases;
• Department of Environmental Health