The Champalimaud Foundation, based in Lisbon, Portugal, was created at the bequest of the late Portuguese industrialist and entrepreneur, António de Sommer Champalimaud. At the end of 2004 it was officially incorporated as the Anna de Sommer Champalimaud and Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud Foundation, in honour of the benefactor’s parents. As stipulated by António Champalimaud prior to his death, Leonor Beleza, former Portuguese Minister of Health, is the Foundation’s President.
The Champalimaud Foundation features diagnostic and treatment units for cancer patients on the lower floors and research labs above, aimed at research on cancer and neuroscience. It supports individual researchers and research teams working at the cutting edge of biomedical science. It aims to stimulate novel theoretical and practical methodologies by utilising the experience of both research scientists and medical practitioners.
The impact of progressive research – basic, applied and clinical - is typically far-reaching, affecting how illnesses and diseases are diagnosed and treated throughout the world. The Champalimaud Foundation aims to maximise the work being done in the fields of cancer research and neuroscience. Another primary objective is to make advances in the field of international vision research. As a result of this, the Foundation intends to make a significant contribution to the fight against vision-related illness and disease.
As it is a private organisation, the scope for the research initiatives and funding programmes of the Champalimaud Foundation is unrestrained by national borders. If a particular country is in a better position – governmentally, clinically and/or institutionally – to accommodate a certain type of biomedical research, the Foundation has the flexibility and freedom to respond quickly and to lend its support.
The Champalimaud Foundation has a long-term commitment to supporting biomedical science.
Through a detailed programme of research and clinical support the Foundation strives to make significant scientific progress, particularly in the fields of cancer research and neuroscience.
Board of Directors
-Leonor Beleza - a former Portuguese Minister of Health and Vice-President of the Portuguese parliament.
-António Horta-Osório - Chief Executive (designate) of Lloyd’s Banking Group.
-João Botelho - served as Head of Cabinet in two succesive Portuguese governments.
General Council (
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The members of the General Council, entrusted with the task of determining the course of the foundation’s ongoing development, come from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. Each is held in great esteem in their field. All are committed to enhancing the well-being of people around the world. They are:
• Fernando Henrique Cardoso - 34th President of Brazil
• Simone Veil - 12th President of the European Parliament
• Aníbal Cavaco Silva (emeritus) - President of Portugal
• António Almeida Santos - Lawyer, former Minister, former President of Parliament is now a member of the State Council
• António Coutinho - Renowned Immunologist
• António Damásio - One of the world’s foremost leaders in neuroscience
• António Travassos - Renowned Ophthalmologis and member of both the Portuguese and American Societies of Ophthalmology
• Daniel Proença de Carvalho - Lawyer, former Minister and Executor of the will of Mr. António Champalimaud
• Carlos Eugénio Corrêa da Silva - Engineer, Manager and co-executor of Mr. Champalimaud’s will
• João Raposo Magalhães - Former head manager at Champalimaud group
• António Borges - Economist, former Director of the IMF’s European Department
• Pedro D’Abreu Loureiro - Cardiologist, Head of the Cardiology Unit at the Pulido Valente Hospital
Scientific Committee (
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The Scientific Committee includes some of the world’s most renowned scientists, researchers, academics and medical practitioners.
• James Watson (Chairman) - Molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. awards Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962
• Alan Ashworth - Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre in London
• Mark Bear - Distinguished Neurologist and Investigator
• Maria Blasco - Distinguished molecular biologist and Basic Research Vice-Director at CNIO
• Ronald Blasberg - Head of the NeuroOncology PET Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
• Barry Dickson - Scientific Director at the Austrian Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) and a leading international neurobiologist.
• Paul Marks - President Emeritus and Member of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• J. Anthony Movshon - Director of the Center for Neural Science, New York University.
• Keith Peters - Former Head of the School of Clinical Medicine at Cambridge University and President of the Academy of Medical Sciences
• Martin Raff - distinguished biologist and a member of the Royal Society.
• Susumu Tonegawa - Distinguished immunologist and Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987
The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown has atracted outstanding individuals from all over the world and is always seeking for new researchers. If you think you have the profile check the career oportunities: (
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From Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown website
Still under construction