Maria João Barbosa is a Family Physician in USF Gualtar, ACeS Cávado I. She is invited assistant at the School of Medicine of the University of Minho, since 2012, teaching in different curricular units and co-coordinating of a 5th and 6th year curricular units (Residency in Health Centre) and advanced courses in respiratory diseases. She has a particular interest in respiratory disorders and started her PhD studies related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). She is an active member of GRESP/APMGF (Study Group of Respiratory Diseases/Portugal Association of General Practice) and coordinator of COPD subgroup since 2021, having been responsible for the coordination of Investigation subgroup from 2017 until 2021. She is also an active member of IPCRG (International Primary Care Respiratory Group) and, since October 2021, co-coordinating the Portuguese branch of an international project named COPD Right Care, a social movement whose main goal is to deliver the right care to COPD patients.

Maria João is collaborating in several research projects, namely Epi-Asthma – Prevalence and characterisation of Asthma patients according to disease severity in Portugal; EPISODE – Exploring clinical predictors of COPD exacerbation in a community cohort; Learning needs of Portuguese Family Physicians in Respiratory Care: a nationwide survey e Barriers to the implementation of clinical recommendations in respiratory diseases in Primary Health Care in Portugal. She has been member of scientific committees and speaker in diverse national and international congresses.