Maria earned her veterinary medical degree at the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal in 2006. Following this, she underwent a small animal rotating internship at referral practice Hospital Ars Veterinaria in Barcelona. Here she developed her passion for Neurology. Following internship, she moved to the UK and spent two years working in several small animal private practices as permanent and locum vet. Maria pursued her love for neurology and performed a three-year residency in Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Following this, Maria worked in multidisciplinary referral centres in UK as a neurologist and neurosurgeon. Currently, she is back to Portugal and working in her own country as a Neurologist but in her spare time she continues to do some working locum abroad. Maria has a special interest in idiopathic inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, general neurosurgery and advanced neuro-imaging.