Deserved tribute to the physician and researcher Maria de Sousa, who died 1 year ago, a victim of COVID-19.

The immunologist Maria de Sousa, developed her scientific career at the University of Porto, at the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), having spent her academic career in England, Scotland and the United States of America, where she directed the Laboratory of Cell Ecology from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. On her return to Porto, as a Professor at ICBAS, she was responsible for creating the Master's Degree in Immunology.

Maria de Sousa was one of the first Portuguese women to be internationally recognized for her scientific discoveries and her remarkable contribution about the immune system.

Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards and distinctions at a national and international level, such as the “Stimulus to Excellence” Award, awarded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, in 2004, the University of Coimbra Award (2011) , the University of Lisbon Prize, in 2017 and the Mina Bissel Prize, in 2018.

"As I may die and you must live. In your living the hope of my lasting" - Maria de Sousa (1939-2020)