Prof. Dr. Francisco José Palma Maio de Matos

Francisco José Palma Maio de Matos is Chair of the Board of Directors of ULS Coimbra, an integrated healthcare organisation with approximately 12,000 professionals serving 21 municipalities. A Senior Consultant Anaesthesiologist, he is also an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, where he leads the Anaesthesiology course unit and directs the University Anaesthesiology Clinic. He holds a medical degree from the University of Lisbon and a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Beira Interior. He has held hospital leadership roles in anaesthesiology, operating theatre management, ambulatory surgery, quality and patient safety, and biomedical simulation. As Deputy Clinical Director, he contributed to hospital strategy and reorganisation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he coordinated critical areas of the institutional response. He serves on Portugal’s Anaesthesiology Specialty College and the National Monitoring Commission for Integrated Responsibility Centres. Internationally, he has served as President of the Society for Simulation in Europe and is currently Chair of the European Perioperative Data Base and Portugal’s representative on the UEMS European Board of Anaesthesiology. He has published scientific articles and book chapters, contributed to research projects, supervised postgraduate students and received national and international awards for his work in healthcare simulation. He continues to practise clinically in anaesthesiology.