Cristina Xavier (CX) is an Invited Assistant Professor at IUCS-CESPU (since 2024), a Lab Member of the Toxicologic Pathology Research Lab (UCIBIO–CESPU) and a Research Collaborator at the Cancer Drug Resistance (CDR) Group at i3S. She currently serves as Portugal’s Management Committee representative in the COST Action CA21116 (2023–2026), dedicated to translational research in pancreatic cancer, reflecting her international recognition in this field. CX holds an H-index 26 (Scopus) and has authored 46 peer-reviewed publications (12 as 1st author, 11 as last or corresponding author), demonstrating scientific independence and leadership. She graduated in Applied Biology from the University of Minho (2006) and completed a European PhD in Health Sciences (FCT-funded, 2010) in collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Biology (Denmark), focusing on the identification of novel compounds and combinatorial strategies to improve cancer therapy. CX then secured a competitive 3-year postdoctoral contract (2012–2015) at the Division of Cancer Therapeutics, Institute of Cancer Research (ICR-UK). There, she led high-throughput functional screening approaches to identify key genes in pancreatic cancer, and she developed drug-resistant pancreatic cancer models to evaluate novel in-house compounds. She also contributed to multidisciplinary drug discovery programs, being involved in the preclinical validation of 2 small molecules that progressed into Phase I clinical trials, positioning her research at the interface of discovery and clinical translation. In 2015, CX joined the CDR Group at i3S. After an initial 1-year postdoctoral fellowship (2016) investigating extracellular vesicles (EVs) in drug resistance, she was awarded a competitive Individual FCT Postdoctoral Grant (2017–2023). During this period, she established an innovative research line exploring macrophage-derived EVs in pancreatic cancer resistance, in close collaboration with IPO-Porto within the framework of the Porto Comprehensive Cancer Centre. This work secured funding to lead a Beacon Project (2021–2022) and consolidated her scientific independency. She also contributed to projects identifying novel drug combinations to overcome drug resistance in lung cancer. Currently, CX leads a research line focused on discovering novel molecular targets and rational combination therapies to counteract pancreatic cancer drug resistance. Her most impactful contributions include: (i) the identification of CHI3L1 as a driver of pancreatic cancer drug resistance (PMID:33212158); (ii) the validation of CHI3L1 inhibitors capable of reversing resistance (PMID:33212158; 39225813); and (iii) the generation of a drug-resistant pancreatic cancer cell line as an advanced model for therapeutic discovery. Ongoing projects aim to validate innovative combination strategies using advanced cellular systems. CX has supervised 5 PhD (4 ongoing), 13 MSc (2 ongoing), and 15 undergraduate (2 ongoing) students, demonstrating strong mentoring capacity and commitment to advanced training. She actively participates in international research networks through 4 COST Actions (CA24162, CA21135, CA21116, CA17104), fostering collaborative projects and strengthening European integration. CX serves as Guest Co-Editor of Special Issues in IJMS and Cells, is a Reviewer Board member of several international journals, and has reviewed over 50 papers. She regularly contributes to scientific committees, thesis juries, and national and international project evaluation panels. She is an EACR Science Ambassador and a member of EORTC. She also teached at the Faculty of Pharmacy, UP (2022-2023) and at Dep. Biology, University of Minho (since 2022). CX received the Annual Scientific Productivity Award 2024 and 2025 from CESPU-IUCS. CX has evolved into an emerging independent leader in translational pancreatic cancer research, integrating scientific innovation, international collaboration, and strong clinical and mentoring impact.