Dr Tiago Moreira is a Consultant Neurologist and stroke specialist who has built a distinguished international career across Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, before relocating to the UAE. Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, he trained at Lisbon University Hospital and went on to complete his PhD in neuroscience, with a research focus on stroke, diabetes, and inflammation. He further trained in neurology at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) in Switzerland, a renowned research-driven school in stroke medicine, before returning to Sweden, where he spent 15 years at Karolinska University Hospital, ultimately becoming Associate Professor, Head of Section of Neurology, and Head of Residents responsible for training. Today, he is the Head of Stroke Services at SEHA Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, UAE, where he shares his journey from Lisbon to Al Ain and the professional and personal rewards that have followed.
From Lisbon to Stockholm: A Career Shaped by Curiosity and Research
Dr Tiago Moreira’s career has been defined from the start by curiosity and a willingness to explore new countries and cultures. “I’m 50 years old. I come from Lisbon, Portugal, where I grew up. I trained and studied at Lisbon University Hospital. When I was 27, I decided to see a new country. It has always been a part of my career to try to do new things and discover new cultures. I like this very much.”
That instinct first took him to Sweden. “When I was 27, I decided to go to Sweden, which is diametrically opposed to Portugal, weather, culture, and I was very curious about working there as a physician. I started doing research when I arrived, and I got so passionate about it. Research in neuroscience, namely stroke and diabetes and inflammation. I got really hooked, in the work and in the culture, and I also met my future wife there.”
After his PhD, the family moved to Switzerland for a period of post-doctoral work. “We decided to move to Switzerland after that period. By then, I had completed some part of my research as a post-doc, and there I was missing the clinical again. At this point, I already knew I wanted to be a neurologist, and I applied for a residency in Lausanne. Lausanne is a very famous school and very research-oriented, also within stroke. So I was very happy they accepted me to train there.”
Lausanne is also where he worked under some of the leading names in stroke medicine. “I did half of my residency in Lausanne, where I learned a lot about stroke, namely from Professor Patrik Michel, who was my mentor, and Professor Lawrence Hirsch.” When his first child was on the way, the family moved back to Sweden, where he completed his residency and went on to build a 15-year career at Karolinska University Hospital. “I slowly became Head of the Residents, responsible for the training of the residents, and then Head of Section of Neurology. I became Associate Professor there.”
Why Stroke: A Personal Story Behind a Lifelong Specialty
Dr Moreira’s commitment to stroke medicine has a personal origin that goes back to his teenage years. “I got interested in stroke when my grandmother had a stroke. I was a teenager, and I could see firsthand how stroke affects someone, how the brain functions, and how there were no treatments back then. It was just aspirin. This made me curious from the start.”
That early exposure stayed with him through medical school, even when most of his classmates were drawn elsewhere. “When I entered medical school, everybody wants to be a cardiologist in the beginning. It’s very fascinating. PCI was on the rise in the 90s, and so I thought of cardiovascular. But then when I had my neurology course, I realised, no, this is it, the brain is really my fascination, how the brain works.”
From there, his pull toward the field only grew. “I started very early to do extra shifts in the emergency department. I realised that stroke was really an area that needed more study, more development. The passion grew from there. So very young, slowly I came to it. Once I got the feeling for it, I never wanted to do something else.”
What he loves most about stroke care is the speed at which it can change a life. “I’m very interested in the acute and the dynamic change that you can do to a person’s function and life if you do it quick and if you do it right. For me, it’s very fulfilling to see the effect when it goes well. The next day the person, instead of being paralysed, she’s walking and talking.”
Stroke Care as a Team Discipline
Dr Moreira is clear that high-quality stroke care is never the work of a single clinician. It depends on a fully coordinated multi-disciplinary system. “It requires training and organisation. It’s not depending on just one person. It’s the whole team. The emergency, the EMS, the ambulance, the emergency department, the nurses, the radiologists, the interventionists, everybody.”
He sees that shared decision-making as essential to getting the best outcomes. “In this matter of minutes, you have to discuss with your peers, the radiologist, the neuro-interventionist. There’s no other way, and you have to reach a decision. Of course you alone cannot bear all the weight of this decision process, because you are just part of the whole. You have to be in communion with these other health professionals to reach the best treatments.”
And the work, he points out, doesn’t end with the acute event. “After the acute treatment, you have the rehabilitation. You need to be allied with the health professionals for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, to achieve the best outcomes.”
Why the UAE: A New Stage for Growth and Impact
After 15 years at Karolinska, Dr Moreira started feeling ready for something new. “Two or three years ago, something was telling me, I need something new, I need something different. I want to see a different part of the world. I had been here for congresses and research.” A long-standing professional contact helped shape that interest. “There was one person who was very enthusiastic within stroke here in the UAE, Dr Suhail Alrukn. Very dynamic, very encouraging, also a very curious person. These contacts in the last decades made me want to come here and discover how it is to work here, how it is to live here.”
The clinical picture in the region was also a big draw. “This is an area with a large burden of stroke, with a population also coming from Southeast Asia, with a high burden of risk factors. And still growing, organising, and able to recruit from other countries the professionals who will be involved in stroke healthcare. For me, this dynamic of growing, bringing people here from different parts of the world, I know very well-trained physicians from Canada, the UK, the USA, many different places.”
That sense of an upward trajectory was, as he puts it, the deciding factor. “This dynamic of growth, this investment, having access to financing and having the latest technologies, latest hardware, machines. This creates a drive that sometimes in Europe is fading a bit. In Europe there is a lot of economic pressure. Every year there are budget problems. Everything is very expensive. In the last years, also as Head of Section, I’ve been facing cuts here and there, sometimes number of beds, lack of nurses. And right now here in this area, there’s a dynamic of upwards swing, and this makes you a little more relaxed and available for developing and organising. You can make more impact.”
Working in a Multicultural Healthcare Environment
After working across Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, Dr Moreira finds the mix of cultures in the UAE genuinely enriching. “Look, it’s very enriching. I find pleasure in this every day. I go to work, I learn a lot from other nationalities. They help me translating to the different 15 languages we have in the world. I get along with everybody, and I feel very proud.”
Inside the team, that diversity turns into a shared sense of purpose. “I feel we build a communion, really. We are from so many different backgrounds, but in these moments we wish each other well, and things work well. It’s very beautiful. I like it very much.”
Leaving Karolinska: A Difficult but Necessary Step
Although the move was driven by ambition and curiosity, Dr Moreira is honest about how hard it was to leave Karolinska. “I achieved what I wanted to do in my career. I would still be doing okay improvements, but on a smaller scale, maybe, over time. Then here, big impact. I was involved in relocating to a new hospital, from the old Karolinska to the new Karolinska, big projects with imaging, with the neurology and neuroscience departments. Somehow in the years that came after that, slowdown, pandemic, all of this, the urge in me to do something different grew.”
The decision was a heavy one personally. “Look, 15 years in Karolinska is huge. It’s like a family. I’ve met people from different departments when I was doing the education and the planning. These are years where you put a lot, you spend time with different people. It was difficult to leave, actually, I have to be honest. Sometimes I miss them, because it’s like a family. We worked together many years, and we achieved amazing things together. I’m just proud and humbled to be part of that. Just a little piece on the machinery, but still grateful.”
Balancing a High-Stakes Specialty with Family Life
Stroke medicine is, by its nature, a specialty built on urgency. Consultants often get called in outside normal hours to support juniors or weigh in on complex cases. Dr Moreira is open about how important availability is, and how that has to be balanced with family life. “It’s very crucial, the engagement that you have as a person, and the situation of sometimes you have to help your younger colleagues, residents, or there is a complex case that you need to discuss with other seniors. So it’s very important to be available. Of course, you have to also find balance in your work life, family life. You do your best. You have to do your best in this situation.”
For him, the right team is what makes that balance possible. It’s also what makes the highest-quality care possible. The work is too time-critical and too complex, he notes, to ever rest on a single individual.
How Allocation Assist Supports Doctors Relocating to the UAE
Relocating internationally as a medical professional means working through several stages, from licensing and job placement to settling into a new healthcare system and helping your family settle in. Allocation Assist streamlines this process with structured support at each stage.
Key Areas of Assistance
- Licensing and regulatory navigation, guiding physicians through credentialing requirements specific to the UAE.
- Role identification and placement, matching specialists with positions aligned to their clinical expertise and career objectives.
- Relocation and family logistics, coordinating practical elements to ensure a seamless move for the entire family.
- Ongoing support, keeping in touch with relocated doctors, following their experiences and achievements in their new roles.
For internationally trained specialists like Dr Moreira, that support makes the move into the UAE healthcare system smoother, letting them focus on patient care.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Dr Tiago Moreira’s background and qualifications?
Dr Moreira is a Consultant Neurologist and stroke specialist originally from Lisbon, Portugal. He trained at Lisbon University Hospital, completed his PhD in neuroscience in Sweden, and undertook part of his neurology residency at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) in Switzerland. He spent 15 years at Karolinska University Hospital, where he became Associate Professor, Head of Section of Neurology, and Head of Residents.
Where does Dr Moreira work in the UAE?
He is the Head of Stroke Services at SEHA Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, UAE.
What is his sub-specialty?
His sub-specialty is stroke medicine, including acute stroke care, with research interests in stroke, diabetes, and inflammation. He is particularly focused on time-critical, multi-disciplinary acute treatment and the rehabilitation pathway that follows.
What inspired him to specialise in stroke?
His interest began when his grandmother had a stroke while he was a teenager, an experience that gave him a firsthand understanding of how stroke affects patients and how limited treatment options were at the time. That curiosity grew through medical school, particularly during his neurology rotation, and was reinforced by extra shifts in the emergency department.
Why did Dr Moreira relocate to the UAE?
After 15 years at Karolinska, he was looking for a new challenge and the opportunity to make a larger-scale impact. The UAE offered a growing healthcare system, investment in stroke services, access to the latest technologies, and a high burden of stroke that gave his work clinical urgency and meaning.
How has he found the multicultural healthcare environment in the UAE?
He describes it as very enriching, learning daily from colleagues of many nationalities and finding a strong sense of shared purpose and collaboration across diverse backgrounds.
What does he see as the keys to good stroke care?
He emphasises that stroke care is a team discipline, dependent on coordinated work across EMS, the emergency department, nurses, radiologists, neuro-interventionists, and rehabilitation specialists, with rapid, collective decision-making and strong communication at its core.
What advice would he give to senior doctors considering an international move?
While he acknowledges that leaving an institution after many years is genuinely difficult, he believes that the UAE offers real opportunities to build, develop, and lead in ways that may have become harder in parts of Europe due to economic pressures. For doctors who feel ready for a new chapter, he sees the region as a place where impact, growth, and quality of practice are still on an upward trajectory.
