1. How would you describe your political leadership style in three words?
Embracing, honest and committed.
2. What is the smallest change you have made in your career that has had the biggest positive result?
Maintaining the well-being of my team. It is the small details, providing them with the best conditions, focusing on their continuous training and improvement and a lot of team building activities. This has led to a more productive, focused and committed team.
3. Which one item would you save from your house or apartment if it was on fire? (apart from your photo album)
My cats: Palatchenka and Pfinhinho.
4. Is there anything you have done that would surprise people?
I have represented Portugal in the national youth swimming team, despite only being 1.57m tall.
5. What has been the most inspirational or influential book you have read and why?
It is very hard to choose only one, but over the last few months I read “The Covid-19 Catastrophe; What’s gone wrong and how to stop it from happening again” by Richard Horton. The take-home message is that we need scientists involved in the decision-making process and we should not delay tackling all the other crises we are facing, such as climate change.