Biography

Álvaro Mendes is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra, under the FCT‑Tenure program. He holds a PhD in Health Sciences and Technology from the University of Aveiro and a Licentiate Degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Coimbra. He is a Clinical and Health Psychologist and a Psychotherapist accredited by the Portuguese Psychologists' Association, as well as a certified systemic family and couples therapist by the Portuguese Society of Family Therapy. His main research interests focus on the psychosocial aspects of genetic conditions, family communication about genetic risk, genetic counselling, attitudes toward the sharing of genetic and genomic information, and the related practices and policies. Álvaro is the Principal Investigator of the DECIDE project - Deliberating genetic risks: decision‑making and communication from genetic counselling to the family (https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.04025.PTDC) He integrates the Ethics and Policy Committee and the Scientific Programme Committee of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG). He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Community Genetics and Senior Editor of the Annals of Human Genetics (section Psychosocial Aspects of Genetics).