Portuguese board-certified neurosurgeon specialized in spine surgery, currently Consultant of Neurosurgery and Head of the Spine Unit of the Department of Neurosurgery, at Centro Hospitalar Universitário S. João, Porto (Portugal).

Finished Medical School at Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto and obtained MD degree in 1992.

Completed the residency in Neurosurgery in 2001 at Centro Hospitalar S. João and a spine surgery fellowship in Kantonsspital Univesitatskliniken, Basel, Switzerland, in 2003.

Concluded doctoral thesis entitled “Contributions of epiduroscopy in patients with lumbar epidural fibrosis” in 2015 at Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto and obtained PhD degree.

Special interest on minimally invasive spine surgery, surgery of the craniovertebral junction, spinal cord and intradural spine surgery and percutaneous spinal techniques.

Invited Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto.

Tutor of 2 Doctoral theses in progress (Medicine), 7 Master theses concluded + 4 in progress (Medicine) and member of juris in public exams of Integrated Masters in Medicine since 2013 and jury of 2 Doctoral thesis (Biomedical Sciences). Invited lecturer on several Postgraduate, Master and Doctoral courses and participated in national and international multicentre investigation projects.

Past President (2017-2018) current President of General Assembly of the Portuguese Neurosurgical Society (SPNC), National Representative (Portugal) of the International Society for Minimal Intervention in Spinal Surgery (ISMISS), member of the Board of Directors of the World Spinal Column Society (WScS), member of the Programme Committee and Nomination Committee of EuroSpine (Spine Society of Europe) and Chairman of the Young Neurosurgeons Award Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS).

Served as Vice-President of the Portuguese Spine Society (SPPCV) from 2007-2012 and 2015-2016, Vice-President of Portuguese Neurosurgical Society (SPNC) from 2013-2014, Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (WFMISS) from 2012-2015 and member of the Training Committee of the Portuguese Society of Neurosurgery from 2011-2016.

Author/co-author of 32 papers in scientific journals, 7 book chapters, 3 full-text publications in proceedings of conferences and 32 publications of abstracts of presentations. Frequent lecturer, moderator and faculty member in national and international scientific meetings and organized more than 100 courses and meetings.

Member of the Portuguese Society of Neurosurgery, Portuguese Spine Society (Founder-member, 2004), EuroSpine - The Spine Society of Europe, AOSpine, International Society for Minimal Intervention in Spinal Surgery, World Spinal Column Society, Mediterranean Association of Neurological Surgeons (Founder-Member, 2015), Spine Intervention Society and Portuguese Brain Council (Founder-Member, 2017).

Section Editor (Spine) of World Neurosurgery and has been reviewer for multiple scientific publications including Acta Medica Portuguesa, Acta Neurochirurgica, Coluna/Columna, Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences, Neurology India, Orthopaedic Surgery, PLOS ONE, Sinapse and World Neurosurgery.