Nevio Sarmento
PhD Candidate
Qualifications:
Master of Science in Medical Technology (Microbiology), Mahidol University, Thailand, 2016; Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science (Hons), Fiji School of Medicine – University of the South Pacific, 2009
Location:
Darwin, JMB; Dili, Timor-Leste
Biography:
Nevio Sarmento is a microbiologist from Timor-Leste (TL) and a PhD student at Menzies. His PhD on nasopharyngeal bacterial carriage in high-risk hospitalised Timorese children with malnutrition or pneumonia, is funded by a Charles Darwin University Research Training Scholarship. Through his PhD, Nevio has led the development of standardised methods for sample collection, storage, culture, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in pneumococcal bacteriology at the National Health Laboratory (NHL) in TL.
He is a Chief Investigator (CI) on the MATCH-TL project which aims to strengthen diagnosis and surveillance of infectious diseases in TL by working closely with the TL Ministry of Health to improve access to quality laboratory diagnostic testing for Malaria, Tuberculosis, COVID-19, and HIV. He is also a CI on the seroprevalence study of COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable diseases through ARIA-RISE projects. He leads an ARIA-RISE funded TL community carriage study and co-leads a Molecular Diagnostic Leprosy project funded by the Australian Centre for the Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Since April 2021, he chairs the TL National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG-TL) pneumococcal vaccine sub-committee where he assisted the government to implement a pneumococcal vaccine program. Prior to his PhD studies, Nevio Sarmento worked at NHL for more than 10 years and helped re-establish the microbiology laboratory in 2015. He continues to mentor to several laboratory scientists at NHL. He was the director for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services at Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares, Dili, TL (2017-19). He has worked on multiple collaborative projects with international partners and has published several articles on antimicrobial resistance in TL. He regularly provides technical advice on health system and laboratory system development to the National Health Laboratory and Ministry of Health in Timor-Leste.
