Mariana Pinto da Costa is an Auxiliar Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar at the University of Porto, and Investigator at the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto. In the United Kingdom, she is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, and works clinically as a psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). She completed two PhDs, one in Social Psychiatry at the Queen Mary University of London, and the other in Medical Sciences at the University of Porto. She has experience in mental health services research in different methodologies (systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, surveys and qualitative research). She has also expertise in developing complex interventions in mental health care, and co-produced with input from patients and community volunteers. She was president of the European Federation of Psychiatry Trainees, and was Principal Investigator of the Brain Drain Study, researching the experiences of mobility of psychiatry trainees in 33 European countries. She also has clinical and research experience in Africa, where she was screening alcohol, smoking and other substances involvement, in primary and mental health care service users in Luanda, while studying for the International Master on Mental Health Policy and Services at the New University of Lisbon supported by the World Health Organisation. She is currently a member of the Executive of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London, and a member of the R&D panel of adult mental health services at SLaM. She is the Co-Principal investigator of a collaborative project between NIHR ARC South London, NIHR ARC North Thames and NIHR Northwest London investigating the impact of using remote consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic on primary and secondary health care services in the cardiology and mental health pathways, funded by the NHS Beneficial Changes Network. She is the Academic Lead of the Digital Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She is a frequent reviewer for several journals and funding bodies (including the NIHR and MRC in the UK). She is a member of the London Advisory Committee of the NIHR RfPB, and she is part of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services and Plos One. She supervises MSc and PhD students at the University of Porto and at King’s College London.
