Raquel Oliveira

Raquel, as an Innovation Consultant, brings 12 years of experience as a biomedical researcher and consultant in R&D and clinical-research projects. She specialises in neurosciences and biochemistry and holds a certification in Clinical Research, which she applies to writing and managing competitive grant applications and advising on clinical project design. She supports clients in strengthening trial readiness, regulatory alignment and translational impact, helping teams translate preclinical science into clear clinical pathways and fundable study plans.

Raquel holds a PhD in Neurosciences from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto (Portugal), a Master’s degree from the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto. Her doctoral research, conducted within a multidisciplinary consortium spanning Porto and Zurich universities, Hospital São João (Porto) and Balgrist University Hospital (Zurich), focused on developing therapeutic approaches to manage urinary dysfunction after spinal cord injury. She was a postdoctoral research associate in the Spinal Cord and Brain Repair Group at King’s College London (UK), leading pre-clinical studies of an experimental gene therapy. She has also worked as a science advisor, clinical-research consultant and grant writer on the first clinical trial of a gene therapy for spinal cord injury, a collaborative programme involving King’s College London, NHS rehabilitation centres, the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis (USA) and The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience.