Meet the Jury of the Open Innovation Competition 2026

Professor Amílcar Falcão, prominent Portuguese pharmacologist and academic, is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the  University of Coimbra (UC) since 2007, currently serving as Rector.

His scientific career focuses on pharmacalogy, pharmaceutical sciences, and biomedical imaging, and he has authored over 300 publications with more than 10,000 citations. His research has made significant contributions to drug development and clinical trials.
Notably, Professor Falcão has contributed to the approval of Portugal's first radiopharmaceutical drug (Fluorodeoxyglucose [18F] UC), as Technical Director of ICNAS Pharma, and played a key role in developing the country's first commercialized drugs:
Eslicarbazepine Acetate (Zebinix®) and Opicapone (Ongentys®).

In addition to his research, Professor Falcão has held several leadership positions at UC, including Director of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, and Vice-Rector. He was first appointed Rector in 2019 and was re-elected for the 2023–2027 term. Falcão's extensive work in pharmacology and his contributions to the pharmaceutical industry have earned him numerous national and international awards.

António is Managing Partner, co-founder and CEO of Pathena. Also, António serves as Non-exec Board Member and Observer in the Board of various Pathena Fund invested companies.

António has a degree in systems engineering from Minho University, an MBA from Porto Business School (University of Porto), an AMP from INSEAD (France). 

He is also a Founding Partner and business angel of various other IT, Digital Health, Digital Therapeutics and MedTech companies.

António is Founding Board Member of Endeavor Portugal, Non-Exec Board Member of Immunethep and Non-Exec Board Member of Casa de Investimentos. He is also a seasoned speaker in innovation and entrepreneurship. Finally, he is recurrently an invited referee/jury in Healthtech / Medtech events across Europe. 

Professor Carlos Robalo Cordeiro is a distinguished expert in Pulmonology, currently serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Coimbra (FMUC), President of the Council of Portuguese Medical Schools and Head of the Department of Pulmonology at Coimbra University Hospital (CHUC).

A Senior Consultant of Pneumology and Full Professor at FMUC, where he also chairs the Curricular Unit of Thoracic and Vascular Pathology, Professor Cordeiro has dedicated his career to advancing respiratory medicine.

His extensive leadership experience includes serving as President of the Portuguese Society of Pulmonology and a term as President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

He actively contributes to global respiratory health through research, leading and participating in numerous national and international projects and clinical trials, with a particular focus on lung cancer screening, progressive fibrosing ILD, and collaborative initiatives like the EIT Health project SmashMedicine.

With a prolific publication record, including numerous first-authored works and peer-reviewed articles, he is also a highly respected educator, mentor, and peer reviewer for prominent medical journals, shaping the future of pulmonology through his contributions to research, education, and clinical practice.

Doctor Helder Mota Filipe is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, holding a PhD in Pharmacology and a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences.

A member of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences, he brings extensive experience in regulatory science to his work, stemming from his past role as president of Infarmed (Portuguese National Authority of Medicines and Health Products) and a member of the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Recently re-elected as president of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (Ordem dos Farmacêuticos), Doctor Mota Filipe has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications in pharmacology, experimental medicine, drug utilization, and regulatory science and has supervised numerous PhD and MSc theses.

Professor Isidoro Caraballo is Full Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Seville (Spain), Founder partner of Cronofarma SL and Head of the Iberoamerican-Swiss Centre for Development of Dosage Forms (CISDEM). He obtained his PhD in Pharmacy from same university.

Dr. Isidoro received more than 20 honors and awards in Spain, USA, Cuba and Switzerland. His research field related to several topics including Design and optimization of controlled release dosage forms, Applying new statistical tools as percolation theory or 3D Printing of Dosage Forms.

Interesting findings in this field were the influence of the relative particle size on the percolation threshold as well as the behaviour of critical points in hydrophilic matrix systems, or the development of 3D printed devices for specific drug delivery in the gastro-intestinal tract.

He is also serving as reviewer of more than 30 scientific journals, and member of editorial board of 20 of them. He has published (130) articles in journals (3) chapters in books, more than 200 proceedings and delivered more than 50 conferences and oral presentations by invitation in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States and Venezuela.

Professor José Augusto Guimarães Morais is an Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon (FFUL), where he also served as Dean. He holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Lisbon and MSc and PhD degrees in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). 

From 1981until his retirement in 2012, he was Professor of Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Pharmacokinetics as well as Pharmacokinetics in Drug Development at FFUL. He reached Full professorship status in1999; Dean of FFUL 1995 to 2012; one term (4 years) as Pro-Rector of the University of Lisbon.

A former President of the Medicines Commission at INFARMED, he also served as a member of CPMP/CHMP, Chairman of the Group of Experts on PK, and a member of the Pharmacokinetics Working Party at EMEA. Professor Morais has contributed extensively to his field, participating in 130 conferences, delivering 160 presentations, co-authoring 100 publications, and supervising 14 master's and 18 doctoral theses. His expertise spans absorption and basic pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring, medicines quality control, bioanalytical methodology, and novel drug delivery systems. His numerous awards include gold medals from the Ministry of Health and the Order of Pharmacists, , recognition from the Presidency of the Republic as grand officer of the Order of Public Education, and the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Michigan as well as the Life Time Achievement Award, Frankfurt Foundation Quality of Medicines,

He also holds the following memberships: Academico Extrangero Electo de la Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia, Madrid, Spain; Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), USA;  Académico Numerário, Academia de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Portugal.

Line Hagner Nielsen is an Associate Prof. at DTU Health Tech, Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and also the group leader of the Pharmaceutical Technology group. In addition, she is also head of studies for the Pharmaceutical Design and Engineering MSc program at DTU.

Line is educated as a pharmacist from University of Copenhagen and received her PhD in 2013, also from University of Copenhagen, within oral delivery of micro devices.

Now, Line works on non-invasive drug delivery technologies - drug delivery devices, microneedles and particles for either the oral, buccal, nasal or transdermal administration routes for applications such as peptide delivery, biofilm eradication and local treatment of skin diseases. She is the work package leader in the Horizon project "Buccal-Pep" and a grant recipient of a starting grant from the Independent
Research Fund Denmark.

Paula Alves is the CEO of iBET and Professor of Bioengineering at NOVA University of Lisbon. She is a Biochemist (FCUL) with a PhD in Biochemical Engineering (ITQB NOVA). Paula did her Habilitation in Bioengineering (ITQB NOVA) and holds an Advanced Management Program (AMP) Degree from Harvard Business School.

Working in Animal Cell Technology since 1990, her research focus on the development bioprocesses for the production of biologics, vaccines and gene and cell-based therapy products.

Paula was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA) in 2021 for her leadership in biomanufacturing, advanced biotherapeutics, and bridging the gap between academia and industry.

She received the Scientific Merit Award from NOVA Univ of Lisbon in 2009, the Gold Medal of Merit from Oeiras Municipality in 2021, the ECI Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies Award in 2024, the ESACT Medal in 2024 and the APIFARMA Merit Personality Award in 2024. She served as President of the ESACT (2017-2022) and is a Member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering since 2024. Was recognized in 2017 as one of the 100 Top Portuguese Women Scientists by Ciência Viva.

She has published over 350 papers, 32 book chapters, and has supervised over 40 PhD students and 20 post-docs.