Born in Luanda, Angola, in 1965. Degree in Medicine by NOVA Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal, in 1989. Specialist in Internal Medicine since 1998. Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology since 2016. PhD in Rheumatology by the University College of London in 2004, on “Vascular Disease and Atherosclerosis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” Director of the Department of Medicine at Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Amadora, Portugal, since 2019. Director of Internal Medicine and of the Immunomediated Systemic Diseases Unit at Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Amadora, Portugal since 1999. Professor of Medicine at NOVA Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal since 2010. Honorary Senior Lecturer of Medicine at University College of London from 2004 till 2014. Coordinator of Clinical Research at CEDOC (Center for the Study of Chronic Diseases) from 2008-2015. Principal Investigator of CEDOC and leader of the Immune Response and Vascular Disease Research Group at NOVA Medical School in Lisbon, Portugal, since 2010. Director for Research and Post-graduate Education at Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Amadora, Portugal from 2016-2018. President of the Portuguese Study Group for Autoimmune Diseases (NEDAI) of the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine, from 2011-2015. Coordinator of Clinical Research for the NEDAI – Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine since 2015. Member of several European Study Groups associated with systemic autoimmune and vascular diseases, including the International Society of Systemic Lupus and the European Study Group for Scleroderma. Member of the Expert Committee of ECRIN since 2019. Expert Consultant for the Direcção Geral de Saúde (Portuguese Health Administration) and INFARMED (Portuguese Drugs Authority) for Biologic Therapies since 2015. Awarded with several distinctions in the field of autoimmunity including three Portuguese Autoimmune Research Awards, “Maratona da Saúde” Ward and the Astra-Zeneca Foundation Research Award. Received several international and national research grants including the Wyeth Research Grant USA and three FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal) grants. Pincipal Investigator in more than 10 international clinical trials (Phase 1, 2, 3), in Internal Medicine and clinical immmunology. In the last 10 years has supervised several PhD and Masters projects in Medicine and Rheumatology. Published more than 80 original papers in international journals.