She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Medicine from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) (1987), completed her Residency in Paediatrics with specialization in Paediatric infectious diseases (1991) at Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM-UNIFESP), completed her Master's degree in Maternal and Child Assistance (1994), her Doctorate in Medicine (2001) at UFBA, and selected for university teaching (Lecturer-professor) in Paediatric Infectious Diseases (2007) at EPM-UNIFESP. In 1991, she was selected to join the Department of Paediatrics as a teacher. She is currently a level 4 Associate Professor at the Federal University of Bahia. She has experience in the field of Medicine, with an emphasis on paediatric infectious diseases. Her main lines of research are Respiratory Infection, Pneumococcal Infection, and Infection of the Central Nervous System.

She is the leader of the research group on  paediatric infectious diseases (CNPq) and works in co-operation with LACEN-BA, Gonçalo Moniz Research Center (FIOCRUZ – BA), Instituto Adolfo Lutz-SP, Faculty of Public Health (USP), National Institute for Health and Welfare, and Turku University Hospital (Finland), Paris Descartes University, Paris (France), the division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA, and Pan-American Health Organization (Washington, D.C., USA). She is a member of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), where she joined the Governing Board in October 2006. In September 2006, she joined the Board of Fellows in Research Productivity at CNPq. She is currently a consultant to the Ministry of Health in Brazil and the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, DC, USA. Researcher 1D at CNPq.