Susana Ferreira completed her degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Beira Interior (UBI) and obtained her master's degree in Biomedical Sciences at the same university with the project "Impact of High Frequency repetitive Magnetic Stimulation on Astrocytes Subjected to Ischemia", under the supervision of Professor Graça Baltazar. The work carried out during her dissertation resulted in an original scientific article entitled "High-frequency repetitive magnetic stimulation rescues ischemia-injured neurons through modulation of glial-derived neurotrophic factor present in the astrocyte's secretome", and the literature review resulted in the systematic review article "Contribution of glial cells to the neuroprotective effects triggered by rMS: a systematic review". She also presented her work as a poster at three national and international congresses. In order to develop and deepen her knowledge and skills in areas that are important to her training, Susana attended the "Animal Experimentation (Function A, B and C)" course at the Jesús Usón Minimal Invasion Surgery Center and the "Advanced Course on Fluorescence Microscopy and Image Analysis". In 2022 she was awarded a research grant as part of the "Segesterone Acetate Intranasal Nanoemulsion" project, which aimed to develop pharmacological formulations with segesterone acetate for intranasal application in an animal model of ischemic stroke, having contributed to the induction of the stroke model and carrying out behavioral tests that assess cognitive-motor changes in the animals. So, in order to gain as much knowledge as possible, she undertook training to be able to perform this task in the best possible way, namely through an Erasmus scholarship at the Complutense University of Madrid to learn how to perform the middle cerebral artery occlusion model. She is currently enrolled in a PhD in Biomedicine at UBI, with a project that aims to modulate mesenchymal stem cells derived from the umbilical cord as a new therapeutic approach to ischemic stroke, having also obtained a research grant "REPAIR: Reparar e Recuperar no AVC isquémico: novas estratégias de terapia celular". The merit of her PhD project topic was validated by the "Promove Ideias: o Futuro do Interior" Award. In parallel with his academic and research work, he developed an idea for a medical device, which was twice awarded the first INNOCUP 23 and HealthCup2024 prizes by UbiMedical. In the previous academic year, she taught practical Neurobiology classes to Master's students in Biomedical Sciences and Biochemistry and co-supervised a Master's student in Biomedical Sciences with a dissertation entitled: "Evaluation of the Protective Potential of Segesterone Acetate and Simvastatin in an In Vitro Model of Cerebral Ischemia". This year she collaborated on a project which resulted in the scientific article: "Endogenous GDNF Is Unable to Halt Dopaminergic Injury Triggered by Microglial Activation". Susana was also co-first author of an article: "Preconditioning of MSCs for Neurological Conditions: from Cellular to Functional Impact-a Systematic Review", taught some practical classes to students on the Integrated Master's Degree in Medicine and co-supervised two Biomedical Sciences Seminar projects.