The School of Health (ESSa) comprises 3 departments, which are the scientific and pedagogical bodies dedicated to teaching, research and development, and services to the community in the field of health:

• Department of Social, Life and Public Health Sciences
• Department of Nursing
• Department of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologies

The Departments are organised into a Department Council, made up of all the teaching staff of the Department, and a Scientific Committee, made up of all full-time career professors, as well as teaching staff holding a doctoral degree with at least one year of service at the School/IPB.

Each Department is responsible, within its own fields and without prejudice to coordination with other Departments, for:

1. Promoting the production, development and dissemination of knowledge in its own fields;
2. Carrying out the teaching activities inherent to the course units assigned to it;
3. Collaborating with the different bodies of the School in proposing the policies to be pursued in the scientific and pedagogical fields;
4. Proposing to the different bodies of the School the policies to be pursued in postgraduate and continuing education, research, cultural outreach and services to the community;
5. Taking part in drafting proposals for the creation, restructuring and discontinuation of training programmes within its scope of action and/or collaborating in drafting the study plans of programmes within the scope of other Departments;
6. Promoting and supporting the development of applied research projects in its own fields and in interdisciplinary programmes;
7. Ensuring the initiative and freedom of research of its teaching staff and establishing lines of research aimed at the advancement of knowledge and the quality of teaching, in compliance with the principles and objectives of the School and of IPB.

The Scientific Committee of the Department is responsible for:

1. Defining the Department’s general policy on scientific and pedagogical matters;
2. Submitting proposals for the creation, restructuring and discontinuation of initial training programmes in the scientific areas under the Department’s remit;
3. Submitting proposals for the creation, restructuring and discontinuation of postgraduate programmes and other training activities in the scientific areas under the Department’s remit;
4. Defining and proposing to the competent bodies the actions necessary for the implementation, development and evaluation of the training provided under its responsibility;
5. Defining and proposing to the School’s Technical-Scientific Council the criteria for the distribution of teaching duties and the organisation of the academic calendar in its field of action;
6. Defining the teaching staff needs within its scope of action;
7. Issuing an opinion on requests for study leave (equiparação a bolseiro) and exemption from duties by teaching staff working in the Department;
8. Proposing to the School’s Technical-Scientific Council the recruitment and reappointment of teaching staff;
9. Approving and proposing to the competent bodies guidelines on the policy for acquiring scientific and teaching materials;
10. Submitting to the competent bodies proposals for agreements, conventions and contracts for research and services between the Department and public or private entities;
11. Giving an opinion on the integration or participation of the Department’s teaching staff in institutes, centres or research groups external to the Department.