She holds a degree in Biochemical Pharmacy from the Federal University of Bahia, a Master’s in Biological Sciences (Microbiology), and a PhD in Sciences (Microbiology) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She completed her postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, with additional postdoctoral fellowships at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S.
She is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Virology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where she leads the Enteric Virus Laboratory.