The ICVS researcher was elected President of the Portuguese Society of Neurosciences (SPN) for the next four-year period from 2023 to 2027. Tiago Gil Oliveira is joined on the board by Sara Xapelli as vice-president, Clévio Nóbrega as secretary, João Peça as treasurer and Teresa Summavielle as voter.
Promoting the study of the nervous system by the national and international scientific community and communicating with the general population the implications of scientific advances in this area are the great missions of the SPN. Since Neurosciences have received increasing attention in recent years, with greater recognition by the population regarding the impact of neuropsychiatric diseases, such as depression or Alzheimer’s disease, the objectives of the next quadrennium are to “develop initiatives to bring together and communicate discoveries that neuroscientists make with the general population, also continuing the excellent work that the previous direction did. Taking into account my basic training as a doctor-scientist, I also hope to be able to contribute to the development of joint initiatives with other scientific societies in the clinical field. Our expectation is that these synergies will inspire neuroscientists to find solutions to the mysteries of how the nervous system works and the diseases that affect it.”, emphasizes Tiago Gil Olivera.
When reflecting on his professional career in the field of neurosciences, the professor mentions that “one of the greatest learnings from working in science over the years was realizing that we can do much more if we work as a team. In this sense, I feel great enthusiasm for being able to work and develop initiatives with a group of people at SPN who share the same values, the taste for learning more and the pleasure of communicating. And this team sharing softens the feeling of great responsibility, given that Portugal has a great tradition in the study of Neurosciences. In addition, I have a feeling of gratitude because I benefited from multiple training opportunities in the field of fundamental sciences given to me by the School of Medicine and the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute and which were crucial to quench my curiosity and develop my dreamy spirit since the time I started the medical course”.
Tiago Gil Oliveira is Associate Professor at the UMinho School of Medicine, research coordinator at ICVS and neuroradiologist at Hospital de Braga. He was a student of the joint MD/PhD program at the University of Minho, Portugal and Columbia University, NYC, USA. He carried out his doctoral studies at Columbia University, between 2007 and 2010, and his MD at the University of Minho.
