Maria Pia Ferraz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S). She holds a degree in Food Engineering from the Portuguese Catholic University, a PhD in Engineering Sciences from FEUP, and the Habilitation (Agregação) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering awarded by FEUP in 2023.

Her research lies at the interface of materials science, bioengineering, microbiology, and translational medicine, focusing on the design and development of advanced biomaterials for regenerative medicine and infection control. She has contributed to the development of bioactive ceramics, polymeric and composite biomaterials, nanostructured systems, antimicrobial surfaces, tissue-engineered scaffolds, and drug-delivery platforms.

Over the past decade, her work has evolved from bone tissue engineering to addressing the critical challenge of biomaterial-associated infections. Her current research focuses on antimicrobial biomaterials, biofilm prevention and eradication, bacteriophage-based strategies, nanomedicine, chronic wound management, and implant-associated infections, with a strong emphasis on tackling antimicrobial resistance within a One Health framework. Her approach integrates materials design with microbiological and clinical insights to develop next-generation biomedical solutions with clear translational potential.

She has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and 9 book chapters, with over 3,200 citations (Scopus, excluding self-citations) and an h-index of 32 (Scopus, June 29, 2026), reflecting the sustained international impact of her work. She has coordinated competitive research projects and participated in several nationally and internationally funded projects.

She is actively involved in higher education, contributing to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and the supervision of MSc and PhD students in biomaterials and bioengineering. She has supervised 1 postdoctoral researcher, 6 completed PhD theses (with 2 ongoing supervisions), and more than 30 MSc dissertations.

At FEUP, she contributes to academic leadership and governance through her roles in scientific committees of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering programmes, doctoral programmes (Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Materials and Processing) monitoring committees, and coordination of international mobility activities for the MSc in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering. She also plays an active role in research ethics, serving as Vice-President of the FEUP Ethics Committee and as a member of the University of Porto Ethics Committee. 

She serves as an expert evaluator of research and innovation projects at both national and European levels, including competitive programmes in 2025.

She has been recognized among the Stanford/Elsevier “World’s Top 2% Scientists”, both in career-long and single-year rankings (2024), in the area of Engineering – Biomedical Engineering.