Currently, Catarina serves as the Executive Director of CoLAB TRIALS, a private non-profit organization dedicated to fostering innovation in clinical trials. Before this role, she held the position of Senior Clinical Research Manager at NOVA CRU/NMS/UNL and has been an invited researcher at CHRC/NMS/UNL. During her tenure as the Portuguese European Correspondent for clinical research at ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network) for five years, Catarina played a pivotal role in coordinating multinational clinical trials in Portugal. Her responsibilities included providing support to national clinical investigators in preparing clinical studies/projects for European funding. She actively contributed to the advancement of the national network, PtCRIN (Portuguese Clinical Research Infrastructure Network) from 2015 to 2019. Catarina's earlier professional experience involved research scientist roles at the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering in Lisbon, focusing on regenerative medicine (RM). In this capacity, she supervised numerous post-graduation students (MA and Ph.D.) and co-authored 30 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Her contributions extend beyond the laboratory, as Catarina actively participated in various national and international workshops, and MA and Ph.D. programs, where she lectures on topics such as clinical trials, regulatory affairs, clinical project management, and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). Catarina holds a BA in technological chemistry from the Sciences Faculty and earned an MA and Ph.D. in biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico, all from the University of Lisbon. Additionally, she completed a post-graduation program in clinical trials and obtained Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (USA).