He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Medicine from the Federal University of Bahia (1973), specialization in Rheumatology and Immunology from the University of Virginia (1979), a Master's degree in Medicine and Health from the Federal University of Bahia (1977), a Doctorate in Medicine and Health from the Federal University of Bahia (1986) and a PhD in Immunology from Cornell University (1990-1991). He is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Federal University of Bahia, Professor of Immunology at the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health and Head of the Department of Immunology at the University Hospital, Professor Edgard Santos. He is also Assistant Professor, Cornell University Medical College and Associate Professor at the University of Iowa. He is an associate editor of Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, Case Reports in Medicine, the Brazilian Journal of Tropical Medicine and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. He has training in clinical medicine with an emphasis in Clinical Immunology, tropical diseases, rheumatology and allergy, and his main areas of expertise in research include the immunopathogenisis of leishmaniasis, immunopathology and clinical manifestations associated with infection by HTLV-1, influence of helminthiasis in immune response of chronic inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases and immunotherapy in infectious diseases. He had a scholarship from Howard Hugges, is the coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Tropical Medicine, and has coordinated several core programs of excellence. Researcher 1A at CNPq.