Graça Porto

Graça Porto graduated in Medicine in 1979 at the University of Porto and specialized in Hematology/Transfusion Medicine at Santo António Hospital, Porto, where she holds a permanent clinical position, presently as Chief Consultant. Her clinical work was mostly devoted to the study of disorders of iron metabolism, running the Hospital Outpatient Clinic for Hemochromatosis. At the Abel Salazar Institute for Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS) she studied with Maria de Sousa the hematological and immunological aspects of Hereditary Hemochromatosis, earning her PhD at the University of Porto and joining the ICBAS faculty as invited full Professor. In 2003 she joined, as clinical researcher, the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMC), Porto, and there created in 2011 a translational research group devoted to the study of iron biology and its implications in iron related disorders. The general objective of the group is focused on the reciprocal interactions between cells of the immune system and the regulation of systemic iron homeostasis, following her previous work where significant associations between immune cell defects and the severity of systemic iron overload were originally described both in animal models and in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH). She is an IBIS (International Bio-Iron Society) member since its foundation and chaired the Bioiron Meeting in 2009 in Porto. She is also an active member of the European Iron Club (EIC) for more than 25 years, having organized the EIC meetings in 1990 and 2002 in Porto. As a recognised clinical expert in the field she published, in 2015, the EMQN (European Molecular Quality Network) best practice guidelines for the molecular genetic diagnosis of HH, and in 2018 was appointed as a coordinator for the Disorders of Iron Metabolism in the EuroBloodNet, the European Reference Network for rare haematological diseases.