Professor Helena B. Nader obtained her PhD at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and post-doctoral training as a Fogarty (NIH) fellow at the University of Southern. She is professor and head of the Institute of Pharmacology and Molecular Biology at Unifesp.  She has the rank of Scientist 1A in the Brazilian Council of Scientific Development and Technology (CNPq).

Her research field is molecular and cell biology of glycoconjugates. She has over 200 published papers (Google Scholar h index = 55, more than 10,000 citations) and has advised more than one-hundred master of science and PhD students, and more than 40 post-doctors that currently hold research and teaching positions in Brazil and abroad. She has received several national and international awards and honors. At her university she was the first woman to become Pro-rector of Undergraduate as well as Pro-rector of Research and Graduate programs. Therefore, she has been a role model for many women in university spaces, raising women’s need for empowerment and breaking solid barriers in society.

She is member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, of TWAS - The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries, and of the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences. She is honor president, former President (2011-2017) and vice-president (2007-2011) of the of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Sciences (SBPC), former president of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBq, 2007-2008). She is a member of the National Council of Science and Technology (since 2011) and of the Superior Council of Capes (Capes) (since 2016). Her contributions go beyond research, being responsible for diminishing the gap in scientific development between the different regions of Brazil. Also, since 1999, her group back in São Paulo is enrolled in a program for improvement of nationwide high school education, as an attempt to empower the public education in Brazil that, unfortunately, is undergoing severe crisis.