NOVA University Lisbon awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to Matshidiso Moeti, doctor and Public Health specialist and Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Africa. The ceremony took place at NOVA's Rectorate, on March 5th.
Professor Paulo Ferrinho, former Director of NOVA's Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was the tutor of the awardee, requesting the award of this title in recognition of her relevant career in the field of Public Health, as well as for her contribution in combating HIV in African countries and for the collaboration with NOVA.
The laudation was given by Professor Luis Gomes Sambo, who recalled the professional career of Moeti in the search for solutions with great impact on health in Africa, especially in the fight against AIDS, having described Matshidiso Moeti as “a woman of irrefutable qualities; a leader in the permanent search for solutions; a public health veteran committed to the quality of life and well-being of citizens”. He added that the doctor's contributions “make the academic and scientific community proud and constitute an unavoidable impulse for our common purposes of health and inclusive sustainable development".
The Rector of NOVA, Professor João Sàágua, highlighted some aspects of the awardee that he considers to be aligned with NOVA's mission and values, such as the sense of serving the community through an inclusive and collaborative agenda, in line with sustainable development goals; a leadership based on the achievement of goals through meaningful and transversal partnerships across sectors, and the involvement in gender equality matters.
Collaboration was also one of the central themes in Matshidiso Moeti's acceptance speech, who recalled that the University's motto - every city divided against itself shall not stand - is a message that reveals the importance of partnership and equality, suggesting that it exists space and opportunity for NOVA and the World Health Organization to collaborate in the future in the field of Public Health, especially in Portuguese-speaking African countries.
Check out the best moments of the ceremony in the gallery below.
About the awardee
Matshidiso Moeti is a doctor and Public Health specialist. With a career dedicated to the promotion of population health care and well-being, she is currently the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Africa, being the first woman elected for this position. Matshidiso Moeti is a recognized advocate of gender equality and has been working to improve access to health care for women.
