Ana Maria Teodoro Jorge (born 23 September 1949) is a Portuguese

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. She is a member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, and served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

between 2008 and 2011.

Early life and career

Ana Maria Teodoro Jorge was born on 23 September 1949 in

Lourinhã Lourinhã () is a municipality in the District of Lisbon and in the portuguese Oeste region. The population in 2011 was 25,735, in an area of 147.17 km2. The seat of the municipality is the town of Lourinhã, with a population of 8,800 inhab ...

in Portugal. In 1983, she obtained a degree in medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

. The following year she qualified for specialization in

pediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many o ...

. Having worked at the

Caneças Caneças is a former civil parish in the municipality of Odivelas, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Ramada e Caneças. It is a suburb of the Greater Lisbon Grande Lisboa () or Greater Lisbon is a Portuguese NUTS II and ...

Health Centre in

Greater Lisbon Grande Lisboa () or Greater Lisbon is a Portuguese NUTS II and III region and subregion. It was previously only a NUTS III subregion integrated in the Lisboa Region and, previously, in the Lisboa e Vale do Tejo until it was abolished at the J ...

between 1977 and 1983, she became a pediatric nurse at the

Hospital de Dona Estefânia Hospital de Dona Estefânia (; "Queen Stephanie's Hospital") is a public Healthcare in Portugal#Hospitals, Central Hospital serving the Grande Lisboa, Greater Lisbon, Portugal, area as part of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, ...

in the centre of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

for seven years from 1984. From October 1991, she moved to the

Garcia de Orta Garcia de Orta (or Garcia d'Orta; 1501–1568) was a Portuguese physician, herbalist, and naturalist, who worked primarily in Goa and Bombay in Portuguese India. A pioneer of tropical medicine, pharmacognosy, and ethnobotany, Garcia used an e ...

hospital. From 1985 to 1992, she also worked as an assistant at the National School of Public Health of

NOVA University Lisbon NOVA University Lisbon (, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital city, earning its name as the "N ...

, specializing in maternal, child, school and adolescent health. Jorge was appointed Director of the Pediatrics Department at Garcia de Orta Hospital briefly in 1996, and again from June 2001 to January 2008. In March 1996, Jorge became coordinator of the Lisbon health sub-region, then took over the presidency of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Lisbon and the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

Valley from January 1997 until December 2000. She was a member of the national leadership of the Portuguese League for the Fight against Epilepsy from 1987 to 1994, and was a member of the leadership of the Pediatrics Group of the

Ordem dos Médicos The Order of Physicians () is the public entity that serves as the regulatory and licensing body for physician, medical practitioners in Portugal. As a Professional Order (Portugal), professional order, it is responsible for licensing physicians ...

(Order of Physicians), which serves as the regulatory and licensing body for the medical profession, for five years from 1993. Her other roles have included being President of the UNICEF National Committee for Baby-Friendly Hospitals, from 2012.

Political career

On 31 January 2008, Ana Jorge was appointed Minister of Health in the first government of

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he acted ...

, leader of the Socialist Party (PS). She replaced . This appointment caused some surprise because, in addition to being independent, Jorge had supported the socialist

Manuel Alegre Manuel Alegre de Melo Duarte (born 12 May 1936) is a Portuguese poet and politician. He was a candidate to the presidency of the Portuguese Republic in 2006 and 2011, finishing in second place in both elections. For his literary work, he was awa ...

in the 2006 presidential election against

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portugal, Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the List of Presidents of P ...

, official candidate of the PS. In the following national elections in September 2009, Jorge was placed first on the list of PS candidates for

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

and secured a seat in the Assembly of the Republic. With Sócrates continuing as Prime Minister, she retained her post as Minister of Health until the elections of 2011, after which she was replaced by

Paulo Macedo Paulo José Ribeiro Moita de Macedo (born 14 July 1963) is a Portuguese business manager and politician. He is the CEO of Caixa Geral de Depósitos since 2017. He was the Health Minister of Portugal from 2011 to 2015, in the XIX Constitutional ...

. Jorge was also President of the Municipal Assembly of Lourinhã from 2005 to 2013.

Honours and awards

* Jorge received the Pais e Filhos (Parents and Children) Trophy awarded by ''Pais e Filhos'' magazine in 1994. * She received the Medal of Merit from the Order of Physicians in 2018. * She received the Distinguished Service Gold Medal from the Ministry of Health in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorge, Ana 1949 births Government ministers of Portugal Living people Members of the 12th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Women members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians University of Lisbon alumni Women government ministers of Portugal

Early life and career

Political career

Honours and awards

See also

References