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Luís Portela was born in 1951, in Porto, Portugal, where he graduated in Medicine. He practiced medicine only for three years and lectured Psychophysiology for six years at the University of Porto.
He began his business career when he was 21 years old, and at 27 he became the Chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical company Bial until 2011, when he took the role of non-executive Chairman, until 2021. He was also President of the Health Cluster Portugal and of the General Board of the University of Porto and Vice-president of Serralves Foundation. Currently he is Chairman of the Bial Foundation.
In 1994, with Bial and the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities, he created the Bial Foundation, a non-profit institution aimed to foster the scientific study of the human being from both the physical and spiritual perspectives. The Foundation established a Grants Programme for Scientific Research having supported more than 1600 researchers from 29 countries, in the fields of psychophysiology and parapsychology. It also awards some important prizes in the health field.
Amongst other distinctions, he has been decorated three times with national awards from the Portuguese state authorities. He was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by four Universities: Cadiz, Porto, Coimbra, and Lisbon. In 1998, he was awarded the Neurosciences Prize by Louisiana State University, USA. In 2010, he was elected an honorary member of the Parapsychological Association of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2009, he was elected “Correspondent Academic” by the Portuguese Academy of Medicine.