She was officially sworn in at a meeting preceding the 15th World Environmental Health Congress, which was held this week in Auckland, New Zealand.
Paixão will be president of the IFEH from 2020 to 2022.
The 15th World Congress on Environmental Health, which aims to guide international policies, covered topics such as scientific communications from researchers in the areas of impact of climate change on human health, air quality and public health, food safety and biosafety (procedures to protect humans and animals from diseases or harmful biological agents), according to a statement from the organisation.
The International Federation of Environmental Health is an organisation comprising associations and national societies in the area of Environmental Health, with a total of 25 academic members, of which the School of Health Technology (where Susana Paixão is an Adjunct Professor and Director of the Department of Environmental Health), as well as 43 global institutions representing more than 50,000 professionals employed in the area of Environmental Health around the world.
Professor Paixão, according to a statement from the Polytechnic of Coimbra, welcomed this appointment and said she will “continue the mission of the International Federation of Environmental Health to raise governments’ awareness to implement environmental health policies, and the urgency of caring for the planet and caring for the population.”
Jorge Conde, president of the IPC, noted that this choice “is international recognition of the value and scientific quality of the Polytechnic of Coimbra.”