Dr. Fontoura joined Roche in 2008 as a Translational Medicine Leader and became Head of Translational Medicine in 2010, responsible for the early development stages of new medicines for neurological and psychiatric diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, depression, schizophrenia, autism and Down’s syndrome. More recently, his group has initiated work in Ophthalmology and pioneered projects in genetically caused rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Huntington’s disease. In 2015, Dr. Fontoura became Global Head of Clinical Development Neuroscience, where he is in charge of late stage clinical development, which include projects in Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer disease and Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Before joining Roche, Dr. Fontoura worked as a neurologist and Assistant Professor of Immunology at the New University of Lisbon, where he created a multiple sclerosis clinic actively involved in clinical trials and applied neuroimmunology research, led several collaborations with local institutions such as the Gulbenkian Foundation, and consulted with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.