Dr. Inês dos Santos Costa

Dr. Inês Costa graduated in Environmental Engineering at Insituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa University, in 2005. On that same year, she completed her Master’s degree in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology. Between 2006 and 2010, she took her PhD in Environmental Ecology and Industrial Symbiosis and Eco Industrial Park. During the year of 2006, she worked as an invited researcher at the Industrial Ecology Center from Yale University, in the United States of America. In addition, between 2003 and 2010, Dr. Inês worked as senior researcher in the IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, back in Portugal. Over the following six years, she was a senior researcher of her own project: 3 Drivers – Engineering, Innovation, Environment. In 2016, she joined the area of Circular Economy at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Transition. Since 2019, Dr. Inês Costa has been State Secretary for the Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, in Portugal.

Dr. Natalie Hutchinson

Dr. Natalie Hutchinson finished Medical school at University of Leicester in 2009. In 2011, she finished her Master’s degree in Cancer Cell & Molecular Biology. After this, she began to work at Glasgow University, where she was dedicated to Comparative Medicine, and ended up graduating in this same area, between 2012 and 2017. Between May and October of 2018, Dr. Natalie took a Postdoctoral where she developed a genetic clinical with canine models, assessing the impact of environmental tobacco smoke on biological markers. Since June 2019, she has been working on epidemiology at APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency), in England.

Prof. Abdelghani Sghir

Prof. Abdelghani Sghir is a full Professor at the Department of Biology of the Université d’Evry-Paris-Saclay, France. Prof. Sghir undertook research projects on microbial ecology of complex ecosystems since 1993. Prof. Sghir led the Biology department of the University of Evry from 2006 to 2009. He has a strong commitments to graduate and undergraduate education. He organized a dozen of national and international symposia, trainings, workshops and conferences in France and abroad. Currently, Prof. Sghir is a member of the academic board, research and international commissions of the University of Evry and a member of the academic board of the University of Paris-Saclay. Recently he was part of the creating comittee of a several universities alliance: EUGLOH (European University Alliance for GLObal Health), where Universidade do Porto and Université d’Evry-Paris-Saclay are included.

Dr. Clara Correia

Clara R. Correia holds an Integrated Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering by University of Minho (Braga, Portugal) and got her Ph.D. in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells from University of Minho at the 3B’s Research Group (Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics) in 2015. Currently she is a Junior Research at CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials. Clara R. Correia is a co-founder of the COMPASS Research Group (http://compass.web.ua.pt/) and Principal Investigator of the FCT project CIRCUS. She developed during her PhD an innovative cell encapsulation strategy that inspired the project ATLAS, an Advanced Investigator Grant awarded to her PhD supervisor, Professor João F. Mano, by the European Research Council. Her research interests are now mostly focused in the development of microsized devices and its interaction with immune cells for the regeneration of human tissues. Her main ambition is to deconstruct the regenerative niche and develop adaptive cell encapsulation systems with minimum in vitro manipulation and maximum regenerative potential.

Dr. Fernando Jorge Monteiro

Fernando Jorge Monteiro got his PhD from the University of Porto in 1986 and his aggregation in the same institution in 1994. Currently, he is the coordinator of “Biocomposites” Research Group at I3S, position he holds  since 2007 and the President of INEB (Institute for Biomedical Engineering, 2015-2020). He is also full professor at University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering (since 1995) and was Vice Dean of FEUP from 2010 to 2014 and is the director of the PhD Program in Biomedical Engineering since 2006. His scientific activity consists of nanophased ceramic/polymer composite scaffolds for tissue regeneration and drug releasing, Chemistry and topography controlled hard ceramic surfaces and coatings for guided tissue regeneration, Nanomaterials for specific cell targeting and bio-imaging and Biocomposites with antimicrobial properties. He is specialized in Biomaterials, as bioactive biocomposites based on natural polymers and nanophased ceramics for drug delivery systems, tissue regeneration or with antimicrobial properties, Scaffolds for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, interactions with proteins and nanophased systems for bioimaging applications with possible applications in cancer cells identification and Surface modification of hard Bioceramics for guided tissue regeneration. He was Post-doc’s advisor for 7 researchers (2010-2018), supervised 16 PhD students, currently supervising 3 and also supervised more than 45 MSc’s degrees.

Dr. Ana Luísa da Silva

Ana Luísa Daniel-da-Silva graduated in Chemical Engineering (2000) by Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal) in 2000 and got her Ph.D. in Materials Science from University of Alicante (Spain) in 2005. Since June 2009 she is Researcher at CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials and Chemistry Department of the University of Aveiro (UA). Her main scientific interests concern the development of nanostructured materials including functional nanoparticles and nanocomposites for applications in nanomedicine, bionanotechnology and water remediation. In particular she is interested in novel strategies for surface modification with biopolymers, aiming the development of green nanosorbents and biocompatible nanomaterials. She has authored or co-authored 3 patents, 7 book chapters and more than 70 papers in international peer reviewed journals. In addition she has co-edited the book ‘Nanocomposite Particles for Bio-applications-Materials and Bio-interfaces’ (Pan Stanford, 2011). She has been strongly involved to several teaching activities namely by lecturing topics for post-graduation students within the subjects Nanochemistry and Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry. As part of her academic activities she has been involved in communicating chemistry for non-specialized audiences, in particular issues related to Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials.

Dr. Ana Filipa Neves

Representing Médicos do Mundo will be present at this session, Dr. Ana Filipa Neves, a volunteer doctor who was present at the Ndeja mission in 2019. Associação Médicos do Mundo is a non-governmental organization of humanitarian aid and development cooperation. Work is based on the fundamental right of all human beings to have access to health care, regardless of their nationality, religion, ideology, race or economic possibilities. In 2019, Médicos do Mundo was distinguished with the Superbrand 2019 Award, being an organization recognized in the Third Sector and elected by Portuguese consumers according to its mission, credibility and work in the field.

Dr. Maria João Jacinto

The Patient Innovation representative, during her studies, had different international experiences, such as during her master’s thesis in Gent, Belgium, on European bioengineering research projects and part of her doctoral thesis at the University of Houston, Texas, USA . Dr. Maria João holds a PhD in Bioengineering under the MIT Portugal program and a Master’s degree in Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico. Post-doctorate hired by Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. Patient Innovation is an online platform where patients and caregivers from all over the world connect to share solutions that they have developed, or that they created with the help of an employee to overcome a challenge imposed by a health problem.

Dr. Ropa Rusere

Dr. Ropa, a graduate in International Relations at the University of Birmingham, is currently Mercy Ships Volunteer Recruitment Manager in the UK. This project connects several areas with the aim of eradicating diseases in West Africa, through the largest teaching hospital ship in the world. It focuses on providing health care, medical training and the production of world-class research. Mercy Ships operates the largest hospital vessel run by charities, offering safe and free medical care to people who do not have access. This “floating hospital” is made up mostly of volunteers, who use their knowledge to help treat diseases that affect adults and children in several African countries.

Carolina Pinto Brandão

Currently a student of the Integrated Master in Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Carolina is a volunteer at Veterinários Sem Fronteiras Portugal. VSF’s mission is to provide veterinary support to the most needy populations in developing countries, contributing to the improvement of animal health and human health, through the prevention of zoonoses and the qualitative and quantitative valorisation of products of animal origin.

Dr. Salomé Pinho

Dr. Salomé Pinho received her Degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Porto in 2004. From 2006 to 2009, she developed her PhD research at the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of Univ. Porto (IPATIMUP) and at Boston Medical School, MA, USA. She performed her postdoctoral work at IPATIMUP, and is at present, a Researcher at IPATIMUP/i3S and an affiliated Professor at Faculty of Medicine at University of Porto. She is the author of several publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and supervises a research team composed by Post-Docs, PhD students, Master students and young researchers. She is the Principal Investigator of several national and international funded projects in the field of cancer and inflammatory diseases. She received the Young Investigator Award from the European Association for Cancer Research and is the inventor of 2 patents.

Dr. Maria João Sequeira

Dr. Maria João Sequeira has a degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Portugal (1979) and worked as a policy analyst at the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for 9 years before the creation of the Studies and Planning Division, which she currently coordinates. FCT is the main R&D funding body in Portugal and plays an important role in the internationalization of the national scientific and technological system. Her work at FCT has focused mainly on the analysis of R&I policies but has been involved also in a variety of other areas, such as the SMART Specialisation Strategy, and is an active participant in international fora and an expert in several ERAC groups (European Research Area). Her work benefits from previous experience in the Planning and Forecasting Department (Ministry for Environment, Space Planning and Regional Development) prior to 2011, where she conducted studies aiming at supporting public policy in a large number of thematic areas.​

Dr. Manuel Salavessa

Manuel Pestana Boavida Salavessa, graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Lisbon. Specialized in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, at Hospital D. Estefânia, with passage through the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. He was part of an Advanced Management Programme for Executives, at Católica, in 2016.  Dr. Manuel works in the Pharmaceutical Industry since 2011, always in the medical department, including the Iberian Medical Direction, between 2016-2017, based in Barcelona.  Since 2017 at Janssen, first as head of the medical area of psychiatry and, since 2018, as Medical and Regulatory Director. Affiliated Assistant at the Faculty of Medical Sciences since 2017, in the curricular unit of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine.