Majored at the University of Brasilia, followed by postgraduate work in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. Obtained his Doctorate (DPhil) in Medical Physiology and Imaging at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of Edmund T. Rolls. Performed postdoctoral work in Neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, where he recorded in awake animals the activity of networks of neurons linked to the digestive tract. From 2007 through 2018, he directed his Neurobiology of Feeding Laboratory at Pierce Labs (Yale University), previous to joining Mount Sinai in August 2018. After describing the taste-independent calorie sensing phenomenon, his main interests revolve around the question of how the body communicates with the central nervous system, in particular gut-brain signaling via the vagus nerve, and the motor control of the aerodigestive tract.