Dr. Raffaella Gozzelino is a Group Leader at NOVA Medical School Research, NOVA University of Lisbon, where she directs the Inflammation and Neurodegeneration Laboratory since 2015. Her studies focus mainly on iron metabolism and the pathological effects caused by disruption of iron homeostasis on disease onset. Her knowledge and expertise on this field were rewarded by her election in 2019 as one of the six members, worldwide, of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the study of iron in medicine and biology, a mandate she will fulfil until mid 2025. Her research allowed Dr. Gozzelino to be successfully awarded with monetary prizes and research grants to continue producing scientific data, which resulted in the publication of 32 articles in international peer-reviewing scientific journals and the collection of over 4200 citations worldwide. Her mentoring role led to completion 2 BSc, 7 MSc and 5 PhD thesis, besides the short-term studies performed by students visiting her lab, while collaborating with national and international institutions. In 2020, Dr. Gozzelino was appointed by the Government of Cape Verde, her country of origins, as Rector of the Atlantic Technical University and Coordinator of the Sea Campus, located in São Vicente Island. In 2021, she also became a Member of the Counsellor Council of Higher Education Regulatory Agency in Cape Verde. Until 2022, she served as Vice-chancellor of WASCAL (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use), a MSc program on Environmental Health and Ocean Sciences, receiving students from 11 West African countries. Her involvement in African higher education programs also refers to the invitation to join as Faculty Member the PhD program Science for Development, which was launched by the Gulbenkian Foundation for students from African Portuguese-speaking countries. In September 2022, she was appointed as Executive Project Coordinator for West Africa by the Parley Foundation for the Ocean Portugal, a role she assumed when also becoming an External Collaborator of the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes at the Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon. These institutions are responsible for executing the plan of activities defined in a cooperation project between the Portuguese Government and the Cape-verdean Government, signed in 2021, which is coordinated by Dr. Gozzelino in Cape Verde. By studying the impact on climate change and environmental preservation on human health and disease incidence, she became the co-Chair of the NGO DOTCAN (Development of Ocean Tech Capacity for African Nation), a Canadian initiative aimed at promoting quality education and research in ocean/health sciences and technologies in West African countries. Her interests in this field also allowed her to receive the invitation to join the European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, as expert evaluator, and to actively contribute to the successful award of 2 UNESCO Chairs, one on Biodiversity and one on Technology applied to Human Health, she aids to implement in African Portuguese-speaking countries. In 2023, she aided to implement the MIT-AFRICA program in Cape Verde; she founded Diaspora Mundi, through which the qualified African diaspora scientifically contributes to the development of their countries of origin by promoting education, research training, and mentoring. Dr. Gozzelino is an active member of the Reviewing Panel for Funding Attribution of 12 International Granting Agencies (European and not); international scientific consultant in governmental cooperation projects and for WHO; invited lecturer in educational and outreach programs; academic editor of >10 international scientific peer-reviewed journals and reviewer of >40 journals. She edited 6 special issues and publish 3 book chapters. Dr. Gozzelino also the Director of a non-profit association operating in Cape Verde, devoted to humanitarian causes.