Jorge was appointed Director of the Pediatrics Department at Garcia de Orta Hospital briefly in 1996, and again from June 2001 to January 2008.

She was a member of the national leadership of the Portuguese League for the Fight against Epilepsy from 1987 to 1994, and was a member of the leadership of the Pediatrics Group of the Ordem dos Médicos (Order of Physicians), which serves as the regulatory and licensing body for the medical profession, for five years from 1993.

[1][2][3][4] On 31 January 2008, Ana Jorge was appointed Minister of Health in the first government of José Sócrates, leader of the Socialist Party (PS).

This appointment caused some surprise because, in addition to being independent, Jorge had supported the socialist Manuel Alegre in the 2006 presidential election against Mário Soares, official candidate of the PS.

In the following national elections in September 2009, Jorge was placed first on the list of PS candidates for Coimbra and secured a seat in the Assembly of the Republic.