Mónica Santos graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in 2008 and obtained her PhD degree in Environmental Engineering (FEUP) in 2013.
Currently, she is an Assistant Researcher and Integrated Member of the Epidemiology Research Unit (EPIUnit) at the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP) and of the Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR). Mónica Santos coordinates the laboratory “Studies on Hazardous Medicinal Products“, integrated in the thematic line L3 – Genetic, Behavioural and Environmental Determinants of Health and Disease. She is also a collaborator (external) of the Laboratory of Process, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy Engineering (LEPABE) and of the Associated Laboratory for Innovation in Chemical Engineering (ALiCE).
Her main research interests focus on: (i) the development and validation of analytical methodologies for the identification and quantification of chemical substances and emerging pollutants (for example, antineoplastic drugs, immunosuppressants) in environmental (water, sediments, biota), occupational (indoor air, work surfaces) and human (urine, blood) matrices; (ii) monitoring studies to analyze the mobility of chemical substances in the environment, as well as to identify sources of exposure to chemical substances in the occupational environment; (iii) assessment of exposure to chemical substances and risk analysis (in an environmental and occupational context), integrating chemical, biological and toxicological studies; (iv) mitigation of exposure, through the development of methodologies for the degradation/removal of chemical substances by Advanced Oxidation Processes and Membrane Processes.