Nelson Martins

Dr Nelson Martins

Senior Technical Advisor

Qualifications:

Postdoctoral Fellowship-Training, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, 2007; Postdoctoral Fellowship-Training Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, 2007; PhD, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, 2007; Master in Health Management, University of Newcastle, 2002; Graduate Certificate Population Health University of Newcastle, Australia, 2002; Medical Doctor (Dokter Umum), University of Padjadjaran, Indonesia, 1998; Bachelor of Medicine, University of Padjadjaran, 1995

Location:

Timor-Leste

Dr Nelson is a Senior Technical Advisor at Menzies. He was the Timor-Leste Minister of Health from June 2007 to August 2012. At the same time, he also held the position as a president of Timor-Leste’s National Commission for HIV/AIDS.

Policy and decision making 
Dr Nelson is the creator of SISCa (Integrated Community Health Services) and author of the book, Re-vitalization of Primary Health Care System in Timor-Leste through SISCa. He is also the leading actor in the development of Ministry of Health Cabinet of Health Research and Development (CHRD), and leading policy maker and actor in the process development and writing up the 20 year National Health Strategic Plan (NHSP 2011-2030).

Post conflict experiences and assignments 
He was one of the young Timorese doctors who rendered medical service during the conflict, emergency and transitional phases of East Timor’s government. He was the founding director of the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP), and former member of the Interim Health Authority during the United National Transition Government for East Timor (UNTAET).

Research and publications
Dr Nelson was the first Timorese medical doctor to graduate with a PhD from an internationally recognized Australian university, and has attended and presented many papers in various national and international conferences, seminars and workshops. He was engaged in planning, organising and conducting various health research projects including the “First Randomized Control Trial on Food Incentives to improve Tuberculosis Treatment Compliance (FITTCET) in Dili, Timor-Leste. The article has been widely publicised and earned a publication at the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2009.

To date, he has written 119 manuscripts including 40 peer review journal and online articles, 2 books, 41 abstracts for national and international conferences, 11 policy documents, and 25 reports. He has been invited to attend and speak (including as a plenary speaker) at 90 high level conferences, seminars, and workshops in various countries, including Australia, USA, Germany, Portugal, France, Switzerland, UK, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Nepal, Philippines, Ethiopia, South-Sudan, Kenya, DR Congo, Togo, Sierra-Leone, Finland, and Timor-Leste. He has acted as principal investigator for 21 health research projects, as principal supervisors for 14 MPH, and field supervisors for 2 PhD students' research projects and thesis writing.