Apresentação Pessoal

At FCNAUP, he was deeply inspired by Emílio Peres, a humanist, professor, and mentor. His academic career began as an Assistant to Dr. Peres in Human Nutrition.

In the 1990s, he dedicated four consecutive summers to travelling to Maranhão, Brazil, with André Moreira (now a professor at FMUP and FCNAUP and a co-author and researcher at ISPUP), under the guidance of Emílio Peres. There, they engaged in voluntary community work focused on maternal and child nutrition. 

In 1994, he completed the academic exam “Provas de Aptidão Pedagógica e Capacidade Científica em Alimentação e Nutrição Humana,” which strengthened his commitment to advancing active learning in Human Nutrition alongside Dr. Peres. This achievement, bolstered by Dr. Peres's mentorship, allowed him to advance active learning methods in Human Nutrition, including the innovative blended-learning approach awarded by the University of Porto in 2004. In the 2024 edition, he was also awarded the “Innovative Pedagogical Practice” Award from the University of Porto, together with the Human Nutrition team.

He also had the guidance of Prof. Maria Fernanda Navarro (National School of Public Health) in maternal-child health, a key area of his expertise. He had the privilege to collaborate with Prof. Isabel do Carmo on the Portuguese Platform Against Obesity (Portuguese Health General Directorate), contributing to both publications and teaching at the Master of Metabolic Diseases and Eating Behavior, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, alongside Prof. Daniel Sampaio, his former PhD supervisor.

In 2001, he received his PhD in Human Nutrition with the support of Professors Maria Daniel Vaz de Almeida and Daniel Sampaio. His research has been focusing on eating behavior and weight control, with a particular interest in the relationship between dietary intake and obesity-asthma, and the regulation of hydric and sodium-potassium balance across the life cycle, also in collaboration with the WHO. One of his most cited papers, “Moreira P, Padez C, Mourão-Carvalhal I, Rosado V. Maternal weight gain during pregnancy and overweight in Portuguese children” Int J Obes 2007; 31 (4): 608-14), highlighted the critical association between excessive gestational weight gain (over 16 kg) and childhood obesity, contributing to the revised guidelines of the Institute of Medicine on pregnancy weight gain in 2009.

More recently, he has worked with the Helpo Association and other organizations, focusing on maternal-child nutrition and global nutrition projects, including efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases and maternal-child transmission of HIV in pregnant HIV-positive women. His work spans low and middle-income countries such as Mozambique (Maputo and Nampula), São Tomé e Príncipe, and regions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan, in collaboration with WHO Europe. He has also promoted academic collaborations with students and nutritionists from the University of Lurio in Mozambique and the University of La Cantuta in Peru.

Currently, he is a Full Professor of Human Nutrition at FCNAUP, an Integrated Researcher at the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP), and a collaborator at the Centro de Atividade Física e Saúde e Lazer (CIAFEL).

He also chaired undergraduate and master's degree evaluation committees in nutrition at A3ES - Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency. Currently, he is on the Editorial Board of Nutrients and other international scientific journals.

He served as President of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Association of Nutritionists (2010-2016), playing a key role in the creation of the “Ordem dos Nutricionistas” to regulate the profession. He is a founding member of the Portuguese Society of Nutrition and Food Sciences and was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Ordem dos Nutricionistas in April 2022.

As Director of FCNAUP (2014-2018), he led efforts to secure funding for the construction of the faculty's own building, which, after more than 40 years of anticipation, was completed in 2020. He is currently the Director of the Master's Course in Pediatric Nutrition and serves as President of the Pedagogical Council.