PhD in Anthropology, specialization in Biological Anthropology, and professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Coimbra. Member of the Center for Research in Anthropology and Health (CIAS), a collaborator at the Center for Functional Ecology (CEF) and an external collaborator at the Unidad de Investigación en Bioarqueología y Antropología Forense at the University of Buenos Aires.
Her research focuses on Biological Anthropology, Bioarcheology, and Paleopathology, with an emphasis on the biocultural and multidisciplinary study of the health and disease in past populations, the history of anthropology, and museum collections. She has authored approximately 160 publications based on research conducted in Portugal, Jamaica, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. She has supervised 13 postdoctoral researchers, 14 PhD and 50 MSc students. She serves as an associate editor of the International Journal of Paleopathology.
She was vice-president of the Paleopathology Association, and vice-president of the Asociación Española de Paleopatología, board member of the Portuguese Anthropology Association, editor of the journal Antropologia Portuguesa, and coordinator of both the Master’s in Human Evolution and Biology and the PhD in Anthropology, and Subdirector of Department of Life Sciences. She has co-organized several scientific conferences. Her contributions have been recognized with the Eve Cockburn Service Award (2021) from the Paleopathology Association and the “Heart of PAMinSA” award (2023).