Joana has a degree in Biology from the University of Aveiro and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid, financed with a Marie Sklodowska Curie Early Stage Training Fellowship at the CSIC. She later joined INIBIC and CIBER-BBN as a post-doctoral researcher and professor at the University of A Coruña, working in the field of regenerative medicine applied to rheumatic diseases. In parallel with her research career, she has coordinated science communication projects, through the media, from a gender perspective and has participated in research projects with the active participation of patients in the knowledge generation process. We can also see her regularly immersed in collaborations between art and science. She loves hackathons and she is a mentor at EMERGENCE at the University of Porto, in the field of science communication. She is a member of the board of directors of AMIT-Nodo Galicia, DivulgAcción and has recently been named Academic Numerary of the Galician Academy of Portuguese Language.

At SfC she brings her interdisciplinary and multicultural experience in the management of NEWSERA, focused on the new paradigm #CitSciComm and its connection to data journalism #CitSciJournalism