Ricardo Baptista Leite

Baptista Leite is the founder of CREATING HEALTH - Research and Innovation Funding. He is a co-founder of the Estoril Conferences. He is a member of the European Leadership Network and of the 2015 European Young Leaders programme. He is one of the authors of the books Citizenship for Health (Cidadania para a Saúde) and Strategic Consensus for the Integrated Management of Hepatitis C in Portugal (Consenso Estratégico para a Gestão Integrada da Hepatite C em Portugal).

Baptista Leite is a member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action Network, the 2015 European Young Leaders Programme, and he is to date the only Portuguese citizen to have been invited to be part of the European Leadership Network. He was also a member of the healthcare policy work group at the Francisco Sá Carneiro Institute, at the time presided over by Alexandre Relvas. By invitation from the Institute's President, Carlos Carreiras, Baptista Leite has been a member of the Institute's General Assembly, which is led by Portugal's former Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemão. He is now an elected member of the Institute's Supervisory Board.

Baptista Leite is the main author of Strategic Consensus on Integrated Management of Hepatitis C in Portugal, published as a book in May 2014. He is also the main author of the book Citizenship for Health, which is focused on the role of citizens in health promotion and disease prevention.

Baptista Leite is an elected Member of Parliament in Portugal, since 1 July 2011. He was Chair of the all-party Parliamentary HIV/AIDS work group. He was also an elected member of the Cascais City Hall Assembly, since 9 October 2005 (second term). In December 2001, he was elected member of São Domingos de Rana Town Hall Assembly, having completed the mandate in October 2005. He served as an elected member of the Lisbon Metropolitan Assembly from 2005 to 2014 despite neither position is compatible with his MP status.

Baptista Leite was President of the Cascais Political Committee, from 9 May 2008 to 9 June 2010. During this mandate, PSD won the European elections, and in Cascais the party achieved its greatest majority in recent democratic history, having elected António D'Orey Capucho as Mayor (for his third and last term).

Baptista Leite is currently the Head (Scientific Coordinator) of Public Health, within the Research Center of the Intituto de Ciências da Saúde (Institute of Health Sciences) at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Catholic University of Portugal). He is a member of the faculty with teaching and research responsibilities at the department of Microbiology and Parasitology (Director: Professor Paulo Paixão) at the NOVA Medical School of the NOVA University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal), since 2007. He is also a guest lecturer at the NOVA IMS (Information Management School) at NOVA University, where he is the coordinator of the curricular unit on Sustainable Healthcare.

During his years within the Social Democratic Youth, Baptista Leite served as Director of the National Studies Cabinet and as member of local and district political committees. He also chaired two educational courses, in 2005 and 2009, on local governance promoted by the Social Democratic Party. In the 2009 course, Leite promoted a debate between two former Prime Ministers of Portugal, Francisco Pinto Balsemão and Mário Soares.

Baptista Leite enrolled at the Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (Faculty of Medical Sciences) of the New University of Lisbon, and obtained his medical degree in 2004. In 2005, Baptista Leite completed a one-year general medical residency program at Fernando Fonseca Hospital (Amadora, Portugal), following which he enrolled in a five-year infectious diseases residency program. After completing the first year of the program at Coimbra Hospital Centre (Coimbra, Portugal), he moved back to Lisbon, having completed the remaining five years of the practical curricula of the residency program at Egas Moniz Hospital (West Lisbon Hospital Centre) in July 2011. Baptista Leite completed traineeships in microbiology, virology and intensive care medicine. He also completed an internship in public health at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (HIV, STIs and Viral Hepatitis Programme, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011).

Baptista Leite was introduced into party politics in 2000 by Portugal's current President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. At the time he enrolled both in the Social Democratic Party (Portugal) (PSD) and the Social Democratic Youth (JSD). Having left the Social Democratic Youth at the age limit of 30, he was voted as a lifetime honorary member of the organization at their XXI National Convention in 2010. Baptista Leite is a member of the PSD National Advisory Council (as an MP) and of the National Committee for Reviewing the PSD Political Program (GENEPSD), mainly on issues associated with healthcare and local government.

Baptista Leite was born in Toronto, Canada, the son of João Baptista Leite (from Benguela, Angola) and Ana Maria Guerreiro Leite from (Viseu, Portugal) and brother of Raquel Baptista Leite. He studied from pre-school until 5th grade at Regina Mundi Catholic School in Toronto. In 1991 he moved with his family to Portugal. He completed 6th grade at the English-speaking St. Dominic's International School in Polima, Portugal. After learning how to speak Portuguese, he enrolled at Colégio Marista de Carcavelos (Carcavelos, Portugal).

Ricardo Augustus Guerreiro Baptista Leite (born 31 May 1980) is an elected Member of Parliament in Portugal. He is also an elected member of the Cascais City Council, since 9 October 2005 (on his third term).