Joana Tavares obtained her degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Porto (UP), Portugal in 2003. After four years working on target-based drug discovery against Leishmania at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC) and at the Institut de Recherche pour le Development (IRD) in Montpellier, France, she obtained a PhD degree in Biochemistry at the UP. From 2003 to 2007, she served as an instructor in the Biochemistry Department, and from 2007 to 2011, she was an invited assistant in Immunology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, UP.
Between 2009 and 2013, Tavares conducted postdoctoral research at the Malaria Biology and Genetics Unit of Pasteur Institute in Paris, to study the malaria pre-erythrocytic phase using live imaging in rodents. In late 2013, Tavares joined the IBMC, now integrated into the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S) UP, as a “FCT Investigator”. There she pioneered a research line focused on Plasmodium and the use of live imaging in rodents. Her expertise in deciphering host-parasite interactions by engineering and studying transgenic parasites phenotype and live imaging was expanded to other protozoans such as Leishmania, Trypanosoma brucei, and Trypanosoma cruzi.
Since September 2021, Tavares has coordinated the Host-Parasite Interactions group at i3S and in September 2024, became a Professor at Instituto Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) UP. She co-authored 59 publications, gathering over 1735 citations (h-index 24, Scopus). She successfully supervised several MSc, PhD, and Post-doctoral fellows; has been PI in several competitively funded grants; was co-inventor of two patents and received in 2014 the L’Oreal UNESCO Portugal Medal of Honor for Women in Science.
Currently at i3S, Tavares serves as the scientific coordinator of the Cell Culture and Genotyping Facility and is a member of the Organ Responsible for Animal Welfare and Ethics Review Body (ORBEA), the Biosafety Committee, and the External Seminars Organizer Committee.