I obtained a degree in Biology at the University of Porto (Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto). I have been teaching Biology and Geology in Portuguese public schools for the last 18 years, from elementary to high school levels. During these years I also have been having the opportunity to promote and to participate in science outreach activities developed in schools.
I’m responsible for the project “A Collaborative Process of Public Awareness for Hereditary Hemochromatosis” developed as part of my PhD thesis in “Teaching and Dissemination of Science” (Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto). The main goal of this project is to promote public awareness of Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH). To achieve this, we are creating a collaborative platform to engage different stakeholders involved in the process of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease, including government health officials, researchers, health professionals, patients, carriers of the disease and public. Through a partnership with Portuguese Hemochromatosis Association a range of HH outreach strategies have been implemented and evaluated, and materials about HH, appropriate for different audiences, have been produced. This strategy may be used as a reference for the preparation of new awareness projects, not only in Portugal, but also in other countries.
In the past years I also have collaborated with the European Federation of Associations of Patients with Haemochromatosis (EFAPH) and Haemochromatosis International (HI) that are still currently going on.
As a result of these collaborations I have published as a first author the following article “The importance of the general practitioner as an information source for patients with hereditary haemochromatosis” and co-authored the article “Therapeutic recommendations in HFE hemochromatosis for p.Cys282Tyr (C282Y/C282Y) homozygous genotype.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24857332/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12072-018-9855-0