Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB)

What Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) does

Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) is a Portuguese academic research unit embedded within the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) at Av. Professor Egas Moniz, Lisbon. Founded in 2011 (with an alternative 2013 founding date cited) and recognized as an FCT research unit in 2014, ISAMB studies the relationships between environment and human health under a Planetary Health paradigm, organized into five thematic programs covering environment, family and society; supportive environments for health; environment and transmissible diseases; environment and non-communicable diseases; and epigenetics. Its outputs span municipal health strategies (Almada, Cascais, Mafra, Odivelas), the Cascais Observatory for Health Promotion, international studies such as HBSC across 45 countries, COVID-19 mental health surveillance, and publication series including the Caderno de Notas Soltas e-books.

ISAMB operates six research laboratories (EnviHeB Lab, Environmental Health Microbiology Lab, Evolution, Reproduction & Medicine Lab, Psy Lab, Vision Lab, Bioethics & Planetary Humanities Lab) and offers advanced education through the EnviHealth&Co PhD programme, Master programmes, continuing professional development, and internships. Its revenue is generated indirectly through government and EU research grants (FCT base grants UID/04295/2025, UID/PRR/04295/2025, UID/PRR2/04295/2025; Horizon 2020; Horizon Europe including FOODCLIC €12M and PARC €400M+ in 2023; EEA Grants in 2017), educational programme tuition, and project-funded municipal partnerships. Governance operates under FMUL with a Director and Scientific Council; António Vaz Carneiro has led as Director since July 2017, succeeding founder José Pereira Miguel, and Cristiano Filipe Romão de Matos was elected Scientific Council president in May 2026 for the 2026-2028 term.

The institute is a member of the Associated Laboratory TERRA consortium alongside four other research units, which extends its reach into cross-institutional policy outputs such as the 'Prescription of nature for health promotion' policy brief. Customers and counterparties span Portuguese municipalities, the General-Directorate of Health (DGS), the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (SPPSM), WHO/Europe, Imperial College London, APCOI (for the 'Heróis da Fruta' school nutrition monitoring program), and ALDI Portugal. As a non-profit, ISAMB does not sell commercial products; instead it delivers research, advisory, and educational services funded primarily by public-sector grants and institutional partnerships.

Name

Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB)

Legal name

Instituto de Saúde Ambiental

Website

https://isamb.medicina.ulisboa.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) is a Lisbon-based academic research unit within the University of Lisbon's Faculty of Medicine, conducting environmental and planetary health research across five thematic programs via approximately 230 researchers and serving municipalities, government bodies, and EU research consortia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Health Research

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Compliance & Permitting (BPAHAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Environmental Public Health Laboratories (Water/Air/Soil) (HLAJAIAG)

Keywords

• Environmental health research
• Public health surveillance
• Planetary health studies
• Academic research institute
• Epidemiological research services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government research grants: Funded under FCT grants UID/04295/2025, UID/PRR/04295/2025 and UID/PRR2/04295/2025. Receives funding from European Commission Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programs.
2. Educational programmes: PhD and Master programmes, continuing professional development courses, and internship programs generate educational revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ISAMB conducts multidisciplinary environmental health research studying the relationships between environment and human health (communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health, epigenetics). It delivers academic education via PhD/Master programmes and continuing professional development courses, produces peer-reviewed publications and policy briefs, and provides applied research and consulting services to Portuguese municipalities (Municipal Health Strategies) and to international research consortia under Horizon Europe frameworks.

Product overview

Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) is a research institute at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, focused on environmental health research. Rather than commercial products, ISAMB offers academic programmes (EnviHealth&Co PhD), operates multiple research laboratories (EnviHeB Lab and others), develops municipal health strategies for Portuguese municipalities, publishes scientific works (Caderno de Notas Soltas series), and coordinates EU-funded research projects. The institute has approximately 230 researchers organized in five thematic programmes covering environment and health relationships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EnviHealth&Co PhD Programme
• Master Programmes in Environmental Health
• Continuing Professional Development Courses
• Municipal Health Strategy Development Services
• Cascais Observatory for Health Promotion (OPS)
• FOODCLIC (Horizon Europe Project Participation)
• PARC (Horizon Europe Project Participation) ISAMB's participation in the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), developing next-generation chemical risk assessment incorporating both human health and the environment in a 'One Health' approach. Horizon Europe funding exceeds €400 million, with nearly 200 partners across 28 countries.

Quantifiable outcome

• 12.9% increase in daily fruit and vegetable consumption among schoolchildren participating in 'Heróis da Fruta' intervention
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Laboratório Associado TERRAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISAMB is one of five units composing the Associated Laboratory TERRA, a consortium focused on comprehensive environmental and health research. TERRA coordinates initiatives including the Policy Brief on nature prescription for health promotion.
• Associação Portuguesa Contra a Obesidade Infantil (APCOI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISAMB provides annual monitoring and evaluation of the 'Heróis da Fruta' school-based nutrition program, analyzing data on fruit and vegetable consumption among participating children.
• ALDI PortugalmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerALDI provides main financial support for the 'Heróis da Fruta' initiative that distributes free fruit in Portuguese schools.
• BlédinaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner in the 'Heróis da Fruta' initiative supporting school-based nutrition promotion.
• Maçã de AlcobaçaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner providing produce for the 'Heróis da Fruta' school nutrition program.
• Imperial College LondonmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on international health studies including Nature-published research on urban-rural health disparities among children and adolescents.
• World Health Organization (WHO/Europa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISAMB organized the WHO/Euro Workshop 'Setting research priorities in Environment and Health' in Cascais, Portugal, in collaboration with WHO Europe.
• Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on SM-COVID19 mental health study and other public health surveillance initiatives including Hepatitis C project.
• Sociedade Portuguesa de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental (SPPSM)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in SM-COVID19 mental health surveillance study during COVID-19 pandemic.
• Almada MunicipalitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnviHeB Lab coordinated development of Almada's Municipal Health Strategy, a strategic planning instrument for municipal health actions.
• Cascais MunicipalitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for development of Cascais Municipal Health Strategy and Observatory for Health Promotion.
• General-Directorate of Health (DGS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on REACT-COVID study examining diet and physical activity during COVID-19 lockdown periods.
• Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH-UL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration including Aventura Social project (30 years) and joint research on health behavior, youth development, and physical activity.
• ValorsulminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding partner for PANORAMIx public health monitoring program related to waste management incineration impacts.
• Oeiras MunicipalityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding for ACTIFOeiras physical activity barometer project.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH): University-affiliated research and teaching institute combining epidemiology, public and environmental health with EU Horizon project participation and graduate programmes. Operationally very similar to ISAMB.
• ISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health): Barcelona-based research institute with a nearly identical focus on planetary and environmental health, policy translation, and EU-funded consortium projects. Most direct functional and academic analogue to ISAMB on a larger scale.
• IMP&SP (Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, FMUL): Host institute within the same Faculty of Medicine where ISAMB is physically located; shares infrastructure, faculty, and overlapping public health research mandates.
• Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA): Portuguese national public health laboratory and research institute collaborating directly with ISAMB on SM-COVID19 and Hepatitis C studies. Overlapping national mandate in surveillance and population health research.
• EHESP French School of Public Health: French university-affiliated public health school combining research, Master's/PhD programmes, and policy support for government agencies; structurally a very close analogue across the education-research-policy triad.
• Institute of Public Health, University of Porto (ISPUP): Portuguese university-based public health research institute offering graduate programmes and population health research, directly comparable in scope, geography and funding model to ISAMB.

Broad incumbents

• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM): A larger, more established global public health research and graduate institution with comparable EU-funded research, municipal partnerships, and PhD programmes, but operating at materially greater scale and global brand recognition.
• Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz): Major Brazilian public health research foundation covering epidemiology, environmental health, infectious/non-communicable diseases and graduate training; wider portfolio but comparable mission and Latin/Lusophone public health footprint.
• Karolinska Institutet (Department of Global Public Health): Swedish medical university with extensive environmental and global public health research groups, PhD programmes, and EU consortium leadership. Much larger scale but overlapping research domains.
• IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer): WHO's specialised cancer research agency conducting environmental and occupational health research with international consortiums; comparable scale and EU-level research partnerships, though narrower disease focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/isamb_fmul
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCWew2UPScMqASTUbXBLGnsA
• Facebookfacebook.com/isambfmul
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/isamb

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB)