Lucsendar Alves

Technical Advisor - Laboratory and Health System Strengthening

Qualifications:

Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW Australia 2014 Bachelor of Medical Science, Macquarie University, NSW Australia 2004

Location:

Darwin – Royal Darwin Hospital

Biography:

Lucsendar Alves is a Timorese senior Medical Scientists with over 10 years of working in resource limited laboratory settings and with over 5 years of leadership in Menzies Timor-Leste program with experience in coordinating, mentoring, laboratory strengthening, operational research, community engagement and evidence-based health policy changes.

Lucsendar has contributed to the health system strengthening program in Timor-Leste and is passionate about investment in sustainability through mentoring and capacity building. One of her substantial contributions in capacity building is the introduction of the Structural Operational Research Training (SORT-iT) in Timor-Leste which has benefited more than 50 Timorese healthcare workers.

Prior to working with Menzies, Lucsendar provided technical support to National Health Laboratory (NHL) Timor-Leste on Vaccine preventable diseases surveillance and testing through strengthening of the NHL measles and rubella testing and obtained WHO accreditation.

Lucsendar started at Menzies as Project coordinator for DFAT Funded project, STRONG-TL and is now a Technical Advisor for Laboratory and Health System Strengthening for Timor-Leste project and co-lead of Menzies Timor-Leste Strategic Reference Group (Menzies TL-SRG).

Email

Research Themes

Global and Tropical Health

STRONG-TL: Surveillance Training, Research Opportunities and National Guidelines for communicable disease control in Timor-Leste
VASINA TL 2: Longitudinal Measles and Rubella Seroprevalence Study in Timor-Leste
MATCH TL: Strengthening Malaria, TB, COVID-19, HIV diagnosis and surveillance in Timor-Leste
Fleming Fund country Grant II
RESPOND: Regional Engagement in Surveillance and response to priority diseases, Providing Opportunities for National health system strengthening and Development
KAP-IDSR Survey: The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Timorese health professionals on Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response

Sarmento N., da Silva E.S., Barreto I., Ximenes J.C., Angelina J.M., Correia D.M., Babo S.M., Tilman A.J., de Sousa, A.S., Hornay E., Ico L.C., Machado F.N., Niha M.V., Ballard S., Lin C., Howden B., Baird R., Wapling J., Alves L., Oakley T., Marr I., Draper A.D.K., Arkell P., Smith-Vaughan H., Fancourt N.S.S., Yan J., Francis J.R. (2023). The COVID-19 laboratory response in Timor-Leste; a story of collaboration. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. Vol 11 Apr 2023,100150.
Arkell P, Sheridan SL, Martins N, Tanesi MY, Gomes N, Amaral S, Oakley T, Solano V, David M, Draper ADK, Sarmento N, da Silva E, Alves L, Freitas C, Machado FN, Gusmão C, da Costa Barreto I, Fancourt NSS, Macartney K, Yan J, Francis JR. (2023) Vaccine Preventable Disease Seroprevalence in a Nationwide Assessment of Timor-Leste (VASINA-TL): study protocol for a population-representative cross-sectional serosurvey. BMJ Open. May 18;13(5):e071381
Gusmao C., Tanesi MY., Gomes N., Sheridan S.L., Sarmento N., Oakley T., David M., Wapling J., Alves L., Amaral S., Draper A.D.K., Cruz B., Coelho D., Guterres H., Fancourt N.S.S., Yan J., Macartney K., Francis J.R., Arkell P. (2023). Seroprevalence and prevention of hepatitis B, measles and rubella among healthcare workers in Dili, Timor-Leste. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. Jan 17;13:100133.
Sarmento N, Oakley T, Silva ES da, Tilman A, Monteiro M, Alves L, et al. Strong relationships between the Northern Territory of Australia and Timor-Leste. Microbiol Aust. 2022 Sep 27;43(3):125–9.
Arkell P., Gusmao C., Sheridan S.L, Tanesi M.Y., Gomes N., Oakley T., Wapling J., Alves L., Kopf S., Sarmento N., Barreto I.dC., Amaral S., Draper A.D.K, Coelho D., Guterres H., Salles A., Machado F., Fancourt N.S.S., Yan J., Marr I., Macartney K. Francis J.R. (2022) Serological surveillance of healthcare workers to evaluate natural infection- and vaccine-derived immunity to SARS-CoV-2 during an outbreak in Dili, Timor-Leste. Int J Infect Dis. Jun; 119:80–6.
Francis J.R., Sarmento N., Draper A.D.K., Marr, I., Ting, S., Fancourt N., Alves L., Champlin K., Bongers A., Yan J. (2020) Antimocrobial resistance and antibiotic use in Timor-Leste: building surveillance capacity with a One Health Approach. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 2020;44

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