João Pedro Furtado da Cunha Semedo (20 June 1951 – 17 July 2018) was a Portuguese physician and politician.

Biography

Born in Lisbon in 1951, he attended Camões Secondary School and graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

in 1975. Between 1972 and 1974, he was a member of the board of the Association of Students of that college. In 1975, he participated in the creation and promotion of the Movement ALFA (for adult literacy), and was part of its leadership. He completed his internship in the former Civil Hospitals of Lisbon, now the Hospital Central Lisbon Center, and then joined the national movement of internal physicians. He moved to

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in 1978, where he practiced medicine and pursued political, social and cultural activities. He participated in founding the Union of Doctors of the North and the Popular

University of Porto The University of Porto (''Universidade do Porto'') is a Portuguese public research university located in Porto, and founded on 22 March 1911. It is the second largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students, after the University ...

, and was part of the leadership of FITEI and the artistic cooperative Tree. He worked in several public, private and social health services, completed a postdoctoral degree in Drug Addiction at the Faculty of Psychology of Porto, and worked in Associação Norte Vida with the homeless population. In the 1990s he founded and directed a private clinic and directed the medical services of an IPSS (Private Institution of Social Solidarity). Between 2000 and 2006, he was chairman of the Board of Administration of the Joaquim Urbano Hospital, a unit of the National Health Service (SNS) specialized in respiratory and infectious diseases. In 2006, he left the hospital administration to serve as a Member of the Assembly of the Republic on an exclusive basis. He joined the Union of Communist Students (UEC) and, consequently, the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

(PCP) in 1972. In 1973, he was detained by the political police of the Estado Novo dictatorial regime,

PIDE/DGS The International and State Defense Police (; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of the PIDE were the border, immigration and emigrati ...

, accused of subversive activities. He served on the Central Commission of the UEC and the Central Committee of the PCP. He resigned from the PCP Central Committee in 1991 and from the party in 2000. In 2003 he participated in the creation of the Communist Renewal Movement. In 2004, as an independent member, he joined the list of the Left Bloc (BE) to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and in 2005, he was a candidate for the same party to the Assembly of the Republic, which he would repeat in 2009 and 2011 as head of the list by the circle of Porto. He was a national deputy between 2006 and 2015, resigning halfway through his last term because of illness. He was the BE candidate for the municipal councils of Gondomar, in 2005, of Gaia, in 2009 and of Lisbon, in 2013, but was never the most voted. He died on 17 July 2018.Morreu João Semedo (1951-2018)

References

1951 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Portuguese physicians University of Lisbon alumni Politicians from Lisbon Physicians from Lisbon Portuguese Communist Party politicians Left Bloc politicians Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) {{Portugal-politician-stub