Patrícia Maciel obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry (1993) and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences – Genetics (1998) at the University of Porto, having developed her thesis work at Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, France, and at the Centre for Research in Neuroscience, McGill University, Canada.
Dr. Maciel is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Minho School of Medicine, Director of the MSc program in Health Sciences and Director of the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), where she also leads the Translational Neurogenetics research team. Her work, focusing on the discovery of molecular mechanisms and therapeutics for neurological diseases, of a neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental nature, has led to over 150 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with an H-index of 41 (Researcher ID)/50 (Google Scholar). She has supervised 20 PhD students and 20 MSc students to thesis completion. She is an inventor in two patents and has multiple collaborations with pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery and development.
In addition to serving as reviewer for over 30 scientific journals and for national and international funding entities, Dr. Maciel integrates the Inter-Ministerial Committee for an Integrated Strategy for Rare Diseases, the Policy Board of the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases, and served as Expert and Rapporteur for the National Agenda for Research and Development promoted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). She is an elected member of the General Council of the University of Minho since July 2020.