Rosa Direito earned her PhD in Pharmacy (Bromatology/Food Science), having been awarded a fellowship by the Dean of the Universidade de Lisboa. She has a background in experimental models of disease, mainly on animal models of acute and chronic inflammation (ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes) and in vitro model of colon cancer, and how certain fruits, vegetables and herbs can have an impact on inflammatory processes. Her research interests span the crossroads of the brain-gut axis and how diet and the microbiome can have an impact on health. She has been the author or co-author of 30 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and the co-author or lead communicator of 27 abstracts/posters at scientific conferences nationally and internationally. Over the years she has also mentored and collaborated with students from different degrees, is certified in the handling of laboratory animals, was an instructor of a postgraduate course on laboratory animal sciences and is currently a visiting university lecturer. After finishing her PhD, she has sought to contribute to science internationally by becoming an active certified reviewer and has joined the board of reviewers and editorial board of several scientific journals in the fields of Nutrition and Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is also an expert project evaluator for Eurostars, the Malta Council for Science and Technology, the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation, Slovakia’s Academic and Scientific Programme, as well as the Transformative Research Challenge (TRC) of the Global One Health Prize (2024) of the World Food Forum and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She was also chair of the Transforming Health and Care Systems (THCS) 2nd Joint Transnational Call, where over €34 million in funding were distributed to 130 projects.