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Team Members

Cesar Gomes Victora

Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil. He has been with this university since 1977. He obtained a medical doctor degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In 1983, he earned a PhD in Health Care Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has conducted extensive research in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and other Brazilian states and has worked as a researcher and consultant for more than 40 countries. He has been an advisor to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. His areas of research include maternal and child health and nutrition, breastfeeding, birth cohorts, social inequalities, and evaluation of health services, with more than 700 publications. C. Victora holds a position of level 1-A researcher of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). He has honorary appointments at the Universities of Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Oxford and London, and sits on the Editorial Board of several journals. He was president of the International Epidemiological Association (2011-2014). In 2017 he was honored with Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, being the first Brazilian researcher among the winners.

Aluísio J. D. Barros

Received his medical doctor degree from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil, in 1986. He worked in the Biomedical Informatics Unit for a year and then obtained an MSc degree in Statistics from the same university in 1990. He was granted a scholarship from the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for a PhD program in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he obtained a MSc degree in Medical Statistics in 1991 and a PhD in Epidemiology in 1996. A. Barros then joined the Department of Social Medicine, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil, to work in epidemiology research. He is currently Associate Professor in this university, dedicated mostly to teaching biostatistics. A. Barros was also a Public Health representative in the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) from 2005 to 2007 and Associate Editor to Revista de Saude Publica (RSP) from 2005 to 2009. He is currently Scientific Editor of the RSP.

Carolina Coll

Graduated in Physical Education from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, in 2010. She obtained a MSc and PhD Degree in Epidemiology at the same university. Her doctoral research was about physical activity and mental health during the perinatal period, using data from the 2015 Pelotas Pregnancy and Birth Cohort Study. She completed a doctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford (UK), where she was attached to the Psychiatry Department. Carolina joined the International Center for Equity in Health in January 2017 as a postdoctoral researcher and her work involves data analysis and writing of scientific papers. She has been mainly involved in projects addressing reproductive health and gender-based violence.

Cauane Blumenberg

Computer Scientist graduated from the Universidade Catolica de Pelotas, Brazil, in 2012. He holds a MSc degree in Informatics from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. He joined the International Center for Equity in Health in December 2018 for a Postdoctoral and Data Science position. His work involves data analysis, drafting of technical reports and scientific papers.

Cintia Borges

Graduated in Visual Arts - Concentration in Graphic Design by the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, in 2011. Her activities include, in addition to the cultivation of the visual identity of the International Center for Equity in Health (ICEH), collaboration in the maintenance of the website, elaboration of institutional materials, creation of scientific products that involve the development and editing of graphs, figures and tables, as well as the planning and execution of infographics.

Fatima Maia

She holds a degree in Library Information Science from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, a Master's degree and a Doctorate in Communication and Information from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS. She is currently an adjunct professor in FURG's Library Information Science course. She has experience in the areas of scientific communication, the processing and searching of information, and metric studies in information science. She works at the International Center for Equity in Health developing research activities and information processing in the health area.

Fernando César Wehrmeister

An epidemiologist, he has a degree in Physical Therapy (Universidade Regional de Blumenau, FURB, Brazil), a Master's degree in Public Health (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC, Brazil), a PhD in Epidemiology (Universidade Federal de Pelotas, UFPel, Brazil) and post-doctoral fellowship at this same university. He is currently Adjunct Professor I of the Department of Social Medicine, UFPel Medical School. He joined the International Center for Equity in Health in February 2013 and his work involves data analysis and drafting of technical reports and scientific papers.

Franciele Hellwig

Graduated in Economics from Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. She holds a MSc Degree and a PhD in Epidemiology, obtained at the same university in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Her research focuses on gender inequality and family planning coverage. She joined the International Center for Equity in Health in August 2016 and has been working as a postdoctoral researcher. Her work involves data analysis and drafting of technical reports and scientific papers.

Francine dos S. Costa

Graduated in Dentistry at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. She holds a master's degree in Pediatric Dentistry, a Ph.D. in Pediatric Dentistry, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology. She was also a postdoctoral fellow at the same University. Her doctoral research was about socioeconomic inequalities related to dental pain and caries. She joined the International Center for Equity in Health in March 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher and oral health national surveys data analyst. Her work involves data analysis, drafting technical reports, and scientific papers related to oral health outcomes.

Janaina Calu Costa

Janaina Calu Costa is an epidemiologist and public health researcher currently holding a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of São Paulo's School of Public Health in Brazil. She has been affiliated with the International Center for Equity in Health in Pelotas, Brazil, since 2015, and with the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, USA, since 2022. Janaina earned her MSc and Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Pelotas and her BS in Nutrition from the University of São Paulo. She also completed a research appointment as a Visiting Student Researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her professional and research expertise spans a variety of health issues, including food and nutrition, global health, women’s and child health, and gender and ethnic inequalities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Janaina has contributed to national and international organizations, including the General Coordination of Food and Nutrition at the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Pan American Health Organization, and the World Food Programme.

Larissa Adna Neves Silva

PhD student in Epidemiology Program Postgraduate at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel). Graduated in health and pharmacy from the Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará and MSc in Epidemiology from the UFPel. She joined the International Center for Equity Health in July 2022. Her research interests include access and evaluation of health services; maternal and neonatal health, inequalities in birth assistance, and children's vaccination.

Leonardo Zanini Ferreira

Graduated in Internet Systems from the Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense, Brazil, in 2013. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science (2018) from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), and a PhD in Epidemiology (2022) from the same university. He joined the International Center for Equity in Health in May 2012 and is currently the lead of general analysis. His work involves maintenance and development of analysis codes, writing and review of scientific products, capacity strengthening and website management. He worked with machine learning techniques for his MSc and geospatial modeling on RMNCH indicators during the PhD.

Lissandra Ribeiro

Graduated in Nursing (2019), she has experience in data collection for epidemiological studies, having participated in follow-ups from the 1982, 1993, 2004, and 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohorts. Since August 2024, Lissandra has been the International Center for Equity in Health (ICEH) secretary.

Luis Paulo Vidaletti Ruas

Statistician graduated from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2008. He worked at the Mãe de Deus Hospital, in Porto Alegre - RS, for a year with Care Indicators. He worked in basic and advanced statistics classes for two and a half years throughout Brazil and Chile, always using statistical packages. He joined the International Center for Equity in Health in Jan 2014 and his work involves Coordination and Management of Data Analysis. He also works as dissemination manager in the creation of graphs, maps and dashboards. He became an Epidemiologist in 2016 for completing the Master's degree course at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology.

Luisa Fernanda Arroyave Echeverry

Graduated in Information Systems of Health from Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, in 2013. She obtained a masters degree in Epidemiology at the same university in 2017. Her undergraduate and master's research were about latent tuberculosis in security guards and inmates from two Colombian prisons. She also did a research internship at the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba, during her master's degree in 2016. Luisa has a strong interest in the health situation of vulnerable populations, computational tools for data management in research and teaching. She worked until 2016 as professor in two universities in Medellin, Colombia. Later, in March 2017, she started her PhD in Epidemiology at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, and she joined the International Center for Equity in Health (ICEH) as a PhD student. Her PhD thesis was a proposal of a new content-qualified antenatal care coverage indicator for monitoring use by countries targeting the Sustainable Development Goals, with special focus on global health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries. In 2021, she concluded her PhD in Epidemiology and since then she has been working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the ICEH. Her work involves data analysis and drafting of technical reports and scientific papers. Since November 2022 she works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases - University of Manitoba, Canada.

Luiza Eunice Sá da Silva

Graduated in Nutrition from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. She completed her MSc in Nutrition and Health (2018) and Ph.D. in Public Health (2022) at the same University. She worked as a technical consultant in the Secretariat of Health Surveillance of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, from 2019 to 2024. Luiza joined the International Center for Equity in Health in May 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher. Her work involves data analysis and the writing of scientific papers, with an emphasis on socioeconomic inequalities in nutritional indicators.

Luiza Hences

Graduated in Nursing (2020) with a Master’s degree in Science (2022) from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). During this period, she was a member of the “Nursing, Mental Health, and Public Health” research group. She completed a multiprofessional Residency in Family Health at the State Foundation for Family Health (2024). Luiza joined the International Center for Equity in Health in July 2024.

Natalia Peixoto Lima

Natália graduated with a BSc (2012) in Nutrition from Federal University of Pelotas. She completed her MSc (2014) and PhD (2019) degrees in Epidemiology and a postdoctoral fellowship (2020) at the same University. Additionally, in 2017, she served as a graduate research student at the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, University of Toronto. Natália joined the International Center for Equity in Health in November 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher.

João Luiz Dornelles Bastos


Period of activity:

2010-2011

I am a social epidemiologist and Associate Professor of Public Health at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). My research program is focused on measuring discrimination and identifying its health effects, within an intersectional framework. I developed and evaluated the first self-report measure of discrimination in the Brazilian context and have conducted a range of studies on intersectionality, discrimination, and health in the US, Brazil, and Australia.

Andréa Homsi Dâmaso


Period of activity:

2010-2013

Pharmacist graduated from the Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Brazil, in 1984. She holds a MSc (2002) and PhD (2006) degrees in Epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. During the PhD she was a Takemi fellow in Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, US. In 2009/2010, she did postdoctoral studies at the London School of Economic and Political Sciences - LSE Health (London, UK) in the area of Pharmaceutical Policy and in 2018/2019 she was a visiting researcher at the Harvard School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute at the Department of Population Medicine (Boston, MA, US), both granted by CAPES - Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement, Brazil. Andréa joined the Department of Social Medicine, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, in 2012 being a professor of the permanent staff of the Post-Graduate Program in Epidemiology. She is currently Associate Professor in this university, dedicated mostly to research in Pharmacoepidemiology. During 2010/2013 she worked in the International Center for Equity in Health.

Giovanny V. A. França


Period of activity:

2010-2015

Nutritionist, graduated from the Federal University of Mato Grosso in 2007. He completed his master's degree in Epidemiology at the Federal University of Pelotas, in 2010. Since 2011 he is a doctoral student in the same postgraduate program. His thesis is on Epidemiology of abdominal obesity, especially visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue measured by ultrasound. He started his activities at the Equity Center in 2010, working in data analysis, preparation of technical reports and scientific articles.

Maria Clara Restrepo Mendez


Period of activity:

2012-2016

Received her MSc (2008) and PhD (2012) in Epidemiology from the Department of Social Medicine, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) in Brazil. Her doctoral thesis earned her the 'CAPES Thesis Award 2013' for the best doctoral theses in Public Health in Brazil, which provided her with the funding to spend one year as a visiting researcher in London at the Department of Medical Statistics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. María Clara’s research focuses on understanding the long-term consequences of early adverse exposures on the health and well-being of women and children. Her research has also made contributions to the understanding of social inequities in maternal, newborn, and child health. María Clara has worked at the International Center for Equity in Health at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (Brazil), and at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at University of Bristol (UK) as Senior Research Associate. She has also worked as research consultant for international organizations such as Unicef, WHO and GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance. She is currently working as an OMPHI Research Fellow at University of Oxford, looking at the mechanisms potentially responsible for preterm birth and small for gestational age and their interactions, using thorough phenotyping of clinical, growth, epidemiological data in the INTERBIO-21st Newborn Case-Control Study.

Maria del Pilar Flores-Quispe


Period of activity:

2015-2017

Graduated in Nutrition by Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, with a specialization in Public Nutrition by the Colegio de Nutricionistas del Peru. In her country worked in food services in hospital, outpatient hospital care. However, her work was mainly in nutrition and public heatlh, participating in projects of education in nutrition issues directed to vulnerable populations and health workers; food assistence project for schoolchildren. As well, had worked in Primary Health Care, and for National Institute of Health in National Household Surveys. In the municipality of La Molina, worked in the Human Development Office, coordinating and developing projects in food assistance and nutritional survillance. In Brazil, had got a Master degree in Epidemiology by the post graduate programme of Epidemiology of Federal University of Pelotas, working with inequalities in nutritional condition in children in Latin America and Caribbean. Currently, is a PhD student of Epidemiology, working with issues in Primary Health Care and children health, with national databases of Brazil.

Fernanda Ewerling


Period of activity:

2015-2018

Fernanda is an economist with a strong interest in health and social disparities in health. She obtained a MsC degree in 2013 and a PhD in Epidemiology in 2018 from the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil. During her PhD she worked on the development of the Survey-based Womens empowerment (SWPER) Index. She also completed a doctoral fellowship at the University of Adelaide (Australia), working on the evaluation of the impact of the mothers empowerment on child development in Africa. Fernanda joined the International Center for Equity in Health in 2015 as a PhD student and since 2018 she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher.

Gary Joseph


Period of activity:

2015-2019

Gary Joseph received his medical Doctor degree from the “Escuela Latino Americano de Medicina (ELAM, Cuba) in 2010. In 2012, he obtained the diploma of First degree Specialist in General Medicine Practice from the same school. In 2014, he obtained his MSs and PhD degrees in Epidemiology in 2014 and 2017 respectively from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel). His doctoral research was about Maternal and newborn health inequality in low and middle-income countries. Gary Joseph has worked as consultant at PAHO/WHO in a Country case study in Haiti on Maternal, newborn and child health from 2017 to 2019. He is currently working as Medical Officer at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in Guyana (GPHC) and as Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology at the University of Guyana (UG).

Inácio Crochemore M da Silva


Period of activity:

2015-2020

Graduated in Physical Education from Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil, obtained a Master and Doctor Degree in Epidemiology in the same University and was a visiting PhD student in the Medical Research Council of the University of Cambridge. He is currently permanent professor of the Post-graduate Program in Epidemiology and the Post-Graduate Program in Physical Education of UFPel. Inacio was associate researcher of the ICEH from 2015 to 2020. His initial activities were related to the nutrition indicators, leading later the analyses group on this topic. Inacio also managed the ICEH team members in specific projects with different partners and joined many “Countdown to 2030” initiatives including production of scientific manuscripts and annual reports, as well as workshops for strengthening capacity of equity analyses in different African Countries.

Micaela Milman


Period of activity:

2016 - 2017

Graduated in 2011 as Trilingual Executive Secretary by the Instituto Argentino de Secretarias Ejecutivas (IASE), Micaela joined the team in 2016 to be an event planner, and an executive secretary. She worked with the team until September 2017 when she left to attend the Management Processes’s course at the Federal University of Pelotas.

Marilia Mesenburg


Period of activity:

2016-2019

Graduated in Biology from Federal University of Pelotas, in 2008. She earned a master's and doctor's degree in Epidemiology from Federal University of Pelotas. She held a post-doctoral research position at International Center for Equity in Health from September 2016 to January 2019, where her work involved monitoring and measuring ethnic equity and the impact of migration on maternal and child health using data from low- and middle-income countries. Currently she holds a position as a professor at Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre and a researcher in the EPICOVID Study. She has experience in epidemiological and global health research. Her present research involves maternal and child health, and serological surveys to estimate the incidence and spread of COVID-19.

Beatriz Lerm


Period of activity:

2017-2018

Graduated in Nutrition from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL) in 2016. During her undergrad, she received a scholarship from the Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program to study abroad in the University of Delaware (UDEL), and she did a summer internship at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds a MSc Degree in Epidemiology from UFPEL (2017-2018), period in which she joined the International Center for Equity in Health. Her master's research was about the Double Burden of Malnutrition in children under five years old from low- and middle-income countries. In 2019 she enrolled in a two-year residency training in Children Health in Violence and Vulnerability Situation from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Her main research interests are Equity in Health and Children Health in Vulnerability.

Roberta Bouilly


Period of activity:

2017-2018

Received his medical doctor degree from Latin American School of Medicine of Santiago de Cuba, in 2015. She obtained a MSc Degree in Epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, in 2019. She joined the International Center for Equity in Health in March 2017 as a master student. Currently, she works in her country Haiti in the Laboratory and Research Epidemiology Department.

Jesus David Gil


Period of activity:

2017-2019

Jesus David Cortes Gil, Colombian-Mexican, Psychologist, specialist in transpersonal psychology (UPG-Mexico), Master in Public Health with concentration area in Social and Behavioral Sciences (INSP- Mexico), Certified Sports Trainer (University of Sport Mexico) . Researcher interested in issues of global health, epidemiology, migration, social determinants, physical activity, child development, equity in health, among others.

Ursula Reyes


Period of activity:

2017-2019

Graduated in Biology from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in 2004, she worked in the University Direction of Research, Science and Technology of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia for ten years. She holds a Masters degree in Epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) with a thesis on Socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity among women aged 20-49 in low- and middle-income countries. She was part of the International Center for Equity in Health from March 2017 to December 2018. She has worked at the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of Peru since January 2019 as a specialist in the Development Unit of the National Fund for Scientific, Technological and Technological Innovation Development; this organization is in charge of national financing initiatives for research projects in the fight against COVID-19.

Giovanna Gatica-Domínguez


Period of activity:

2017-2020

Giovanna graduated as a nutritionist at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, in 2005. After working in community and clinical nutrition in Guatemala, she studied from 2009 to 2010 a Master Science degree in Epidemiology at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) of Southern Brazil. She returned to Guatemala and worked as a research assistant at the Nutritional Institute of Central America and Panama (INCAP) from January to August 2011 to work in a school-based intervention project to promote healthy lifestyles. That same year, she began a Doctorate in Science in Public Nutrition at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) of Mexico to study the association of prenatal and postnatal folate and vitamin B12 on child neurodevelopment. During her doctoral studies, she carried out doctoral fellowships at Emory University and the University of Michigan, US. At the end of her doctorate in 2016, she worked as a researcher at the INSP in several research projects and reports on overweight and obesity and associated factors. From March 2017 to mid-August 2020, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the International Center for Equity in Health and the UFPel in Brazil (ICEH/UFPel), and in 2018, she started leading the nutrition team. Her primary scientific work at ICEH/UFPel was on inequalities in nutrition, and her technical work was mainly the analysis of nutritional indicators. From mid-July to mid-August she was part of a research group from INCAP and the University of Colorado, US. Since mid-August 2020, she works as a full-time consultant to support the nutrition monitoring team at the World Health Organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Paulo Neves


Period of activity:

2018-2022

Paulo Neves is a nutritionist (2008) with a great interest in maternal and child health and global health. He obtained his Master's in Nutrition in 2013 from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and finished his PhD in Public Health Nutrition in 2018 from the School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo. He joined the ICEH team in 2018, focusing on equity analysis of nutrition indicators in low- and middle-income countries. Also, he participated in the analysis for the 2023 Lancet Series on Breastfeeding. Currently, he works at the Centre for Global Child Health of the SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Daniel Leventhal


Period of activity:

2019-2020

Daniel graduated with an MSc in epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas in 2020. He was a member of the International Center for Equity in Health from March 2019-December 2020, where he was involved with the reanalysis of nutritional indicators and conducted English writing workshops, in addition to conducting his thesis research on socioeconomic inequalities in the coverage of essential health interventions for women and children in 36 low- and middle-income countries. Having graduated with a BA in Portuguese with pre-medical preparation from UCLA in 2017, Daniel aspires to become a global health physician-epidemiologist.

Juliana Vaz


Period of activity:

2019-2021

Professor Juliana Vaz (Ph.D, MSc, RD, BS) is a Professor of Maternal Child Nutrition in the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. She has practical experience in maternal and child nutritional counseling in the teaching outpatient clinic. She also has experience in conducting cohort studies, clinical trials, and laboratory research related to nutrition and its impact on health. Professor Juliana is currently involved with collaborative projects with national and international institutions concerned with maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, and dietary assessment methods. Previously, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada, the National Institutes of Health, USA, and the University of Bristol, UK. She holds a BS in Nutrition from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, a MSc in Endocrinology from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and a Ph.D in Nutritional Science from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Professor Juliana joined the International Center for Equity in Health in 2019.

Nancy Armenta


Period of activity:

2019-2021

Nancy obtained her bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She also received an MSc Degree in Health Economics at the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (INSP) in Mexico and her Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Public Health with an emphasis on health inequalities at the Universidad de Alcala (UAH) in Spain. During her professional trajectory, Nancy has collaborated with research centers, international agencies, and governmental institutions like the INSP and the Inter-American Development Bank. Most of her research focuses on maternal health care and ethnic inequalities using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Nancy was part of the International Center for Equity in Health as a visiting Ph.D. student in 2019 and as a postdoctoral fellow from 2020-2021. Nancy currently holds the position of research fellow at UAH and INSP. Her research is focused on monitoring ethnic inequalities in health and structural discrimination in sexual and reproductive health services.

Andrea Wendt


Period of activity:

2019-2022

Graduated in Physical Education from Universidade Federal de Pelotas, in 2012. She obtained a MSc and PhD Degree in Epidemiology at the same university. Her doctoral research was about physical activity and sleep outcomes, using data from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Andrea joined the International Center for Equity in Health in March 2019 as a post-doc student.

Luiza Ricardo


Period of activity:

2019-2022

Graduated in Physical Education from Federal University of Pelotas, in 2012. She obtained a MSc in Physical Education and PhD Degree in Epidemiology at the same university. Her doctoral research was about accelerometry based physical activity measurement among one-year-old infants using data from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Luiza joined the International Center for Equity in Health in November 2019 as a post-doc student. Her work involves data analysis and drafting of technical reports and scientific papers. Since november 2022 Luiza works as Postdoctoral research fellow at MRC Epidemiology Unity - University of Cambridge (UK).

Bianca de Oliveira Cata Preta


Period of activity:

2019-2023

Pharmacist from the Universidade Federal do Parana, she had a two-year residency training in cardiovascular care at the teaching hospital from the same university. She holds a Master's degree in Epidemiology from the Universidade Federal de Pelotas and is currently a Ph.D. student at the same Postgraduate Program. Bianca joined the International Center for Equity in Health in March 2019

Thiago Melo Santos


Period of activity:

2019-2024

Graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), with part of his studies taken at the University of Ottawa. He was one of the founding members of Cursinho Equalizar for disadvantaged students in Belo Horizonte and a member of the Canadian NGO CMETrust, helping to collect scholarships for youngsters in Kenya. He was a research intern at Fundacao Ezequiel Dias and a Senior Innovation Analyst at Boticario Group. Currently, he is a board member at Numera and a master's student at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) Epidemiology Program. He joined the International Center for Equity in Health in May 2019.

Laisa Moreira


Period of activity:

2021-2022

Graduated in Psychology from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil, in 2014. She obtained a MSc Degree in Public Health at the same university in 2016, with an emphasis on using contraceptive methods among undergraduate students. She earned a PhD in Epidemiology at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil in 2021. Her doctoral research was about demand for contraception not satisfied and unplanned pregnancy among women of reproductive age. Laísa joined the International Center for Equity in Health in April 2021 for a Postdoctoral position, and concluded her activities in May 2022. Her work in the ICEH involved data analysis, drafting technical reports, and writing scientific papers. Currently, she works as Psychologist in the Gerência de Benefícios e Transferência de Renda at Prefeitura de Florianópolis. She keeps on performing academic activities regarding inequalities.

Caroline Costa


Period of activity:

2022-2024

Caroline is a Nutritionist, graduated from the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil. She holds a MSc degree and a PhD in Epidemiology, obtained at the same university in 2014 and 2019, respectively. She was a postdoctoral fellow in Nutritional Epidemiology at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 2019 to 2022. Caroline joined the International Center for Equity in Health in August 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher. Her work involves data analysis and the writing of scientific papers, with an emphasis on socioeconomic inequalities in nutritional indicators.

Lissandra Amorim Santos


Period of activity:

2023-2023

Lissandra holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from the Federal University of Bahia (2010). She completed her PhD in Nutritional Sciences (Nutritional Epidemiology), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) (2022). She also was a visiting PhD Student at Yale School of Public Health (2021-2022) by CAPES PrInt. In her doctoral research, she aimed to highlight the vulnerability of female-headed households to Food Insecurity in Brazil using national data (POF 2018). She obtained her Master of Science degree in Food, Nutrition and Health from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) (2015). She is a member of the Latin American Interdisciplinary Gender Network (LAIGN – Yale MacMillan Center), subgroup Gender, Economy, Poverty and Health. Her research interests include the following topics: gender inequalities in nutrition and health, racial inequalities, global public health, women's health, and maternal and child nutrition.