Helena Maria Matias Pereira de Melo was born at August 19, 1966, at Coimbra, Portugal, European Union. She has got a Law degree in 1989 (Coimbra University); She was a curricular apprenticeship in Law in the firm law "Pena, Machete e Associados" in 1991 (Lisbon). She has a EU Law Post Graduation in 1991 (Lisbon University) and a MSD in Law in 1996 (Lisbon University).

She is Director of the Biolaw Unit of Department of Bioethics of the Faculty of Medicine, Oporto University, since 1999; she is member of the Board of the Portuguese Association on Bioethics; She is a PHD student of the Department of Law of the University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa). She is consultant of the World Bank;

Her main areas of research are:

a)   Xenotransplantation: ethical, social, economical and legal aspects;

b)   Animal protection;

c)   Gene therapy;

d)   Late onset diseases;

e) The Ethical Basis of Informed Consent Procedures