I started my research career in 2009 as an undergrad in antimicrobial resistance, studying the importance of antibiotics for selecting clinically relevant resistant bacteria. With time, this experience evolved to a passion for performing training abroad at Rámon & Cajal Hospital in Madrid. There, I worked in a worldwide collaborative BIOHYPO project to investigate if biocide used in the food chain would result in a clinically relevant increase of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. I did my PhD (funded by an awarded FCT fellowship) in Pharmaceutical Sciences - Microbiology Speciality at Porto University (2012-2016), where I explored the impact of heavy metals in the maintenance and persistence of multidrug-resistant bacteria using experimental and computational approaches. During this period, I participated as a researcher in 8 national and international collaborative projects and helped write grants for science fundraising. Several partnerships were established, including for an awarded ESCMID Research Grants with the participation of Reference Laboratories of all over Europe (Spain, Austria, Denmark), and a fully FCT competitive funded collaborative project with national trout farmers. At least 14 original research articles in top international journals and an invited review resulted from this work. Between 2016-2018, I worked at the UCIBIO/REQUIMTE Associated Laboratory using high-throughput technologies and bioinformatics to study antimicrobials' role in the evolution of multidrug-resistant bacteria. This experience allowed me to see at first-hand the full potential of using these next-generation tools in infectious diseases. In 2017, I was involved in a worldwide recognized outreach activity focused on MicroMundo@UPorto implementation in Portugal, an innovative Citizen Science project in the Microbiology field. In 2019, I moved outside my Ph.D. (co)supervisor lab to develop my scientific independence and maturity with awarded Junior Research. I integrated and worked in 3 multidisciplinary and international (the USA, The Netherlands) collaborative projects at the Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB). I developed research at the frontline of computational biology by integrating clinical and multiomics data to develop more targeted therapies for diseases with a high and regressive socio-economic burden (e.g., cancer, infectious diseases). During that short time, I published 4 book chapters, 1 original research paper, and a pre-print, and I was responsible for official graduate and undergraduate students co-supervision. Besides, the invited participation as Special Issue Guest Editor in Pathogens Journal (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pathogens/special_issues/Control_of_Foodborne_Pathogens) and as a book editor in the well-known Methods in Molecular Biology series (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-0716-1468-6), allowed me to strengthen and develop new collaborations with internationally renowned researchers in the microbiology and computational biology field. At the end of 2021 I was involved in the organization of the 8th edition of EJIBCE (https://ejibce.github.io/images/abstracts_2021.pdf). As the result of my pedagogical and scientific path, I published 1 book, 4 chapters, and 2 original research papers without my PhD (co)supervisors, plus other 26 ISI papers (90%-Q1, H-index=14; i10-index=16; >1100 citations-GS). I have been responsible for graduated and undergraduate students co-supervision, being actively implicated in international raising funds activities. I have more than 95 communications (oral and poster) and received 18 awards. I'm currently a member of the Editorial Board of Pathogens and Frontiers in Microbiology and reviewed for 13 international peer-review journals (e.g., https://publons.com/researcher/1226787/joana-mourao/). Since 2019, I am officially an Invited Assistant Professor teaching microbiology (University Algarve) and bioinformatics (University Coimbra).