The Epidemiology Research Unit (EPIUnit) was established in 2015 to foster epidemiological research following the highest international standards, supported by funding from the Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT): UIDB/04750/2020 and UIDP/04750/2020. In the most recent evaluation in 2019, EPIUnit achieved the FCT “Excellent” rating following assessment by an international panel.
EPIUnit prospers on collaborations among researchers with diverse educational and professional backgrounds and experiences, who cover population, clinical and translational aspects of epidemiology and public health sciences. Rooted in excellence and innovation, EPIUnit is committed to advancing epidemiological research, thereby promoting an effective translation of the human right to health. We host more than 120 researchers and more than 100 students and trainees, who are organized in more than 30 research laboratories, each dedicated to a specific epidemiological field, defined based on life stage, disease specificities, exposures, or methodological approach.
EPIUnit coordinates several key research infrastructures, including multiple cohort studies with a massive amount of longitudinal data and a substantial population biobank with biological samples spanning different developmental stages. The follow-up of our cohorts supports a life course perspective to the study of human health and disease, allowing to identify critical or sensitive etiological periods for the effects of selected exposures and to improve our understanding of human aging. Consolidating these unique infrastructures has been a successful but continued challenge for epidemiological and public health research.
EPIUnit serves as a host institution for students of several postgraduate programmes, including the Master in Public Health, Master in Health Education and doctoral programmes in Public Health and Global Public Health as well as a training programme as part of the national Public Health medical residency programme. Additionally, it supports undergraduate education through the co-launch of a bachelor’s degree programme in Public Health.
The list of theses developed – since 2018 and until the end of 2023 – by students supervised by EPIUnit integrated researchers can be read here (updated annually, according to our Annual Report).
In 2021, EPIUnit co-founded the Associated Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR) with two other R&D units — CIAFEL and UMIB. ITR is committed to a human rights-based approach to health and aims to produce evidence to inform impactful public policies. This collaboration represents a new phase of growth and action in population health research.
The host institution of both EPIUnit and ITR is ISPUP.
