Rosa Direito earned her PhD in Pharmacy (Food Science), having been awarded a fellowship by the Dean of the University of Lisbon. She has a background in experimental models of disease, mainly on animal models of acute and chronic inflammation (ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis) 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 16 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and the co-author or lead communicator of 24 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, and is an instructor of a postgraduate course on laboratory animal sciences. 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 Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is also an expert project evaluator for the Malta Council for Science and Technology as well as a project peer reviewer for the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia. She also contributes towards the evaluation of MSCA fellowship candidates for Universities around Europe, most recently candidates for the Martí-Franquès PhD COFUND Fellowship at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain.