Fernando A. Arosa graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Valencia (1988) and earned his PhD in Immunology from the University of Porto (1999) under Maria de Sousa’s supervision. After a postdoc at IBMC (Porto), he established his research program as PI of the Lymphocyte Biology Group at IBMC and later at CICS-UBI (presently RISE-Health-UBI, Covilhã). With over 50 publications in prestigious journals like Blood, JBC, J. Immunol., and PNAS, his key contributions include providing evidence for the leukemogenic potential of RBC, characterizing cell surface HLA class I molecules phosphorylation at Tyr320, and establishing IL-15 as a CD8+ T cell differentiation cytokine. Notably, he co-organized the landmark 2008 EMBO Molecular Medicine Workshop on MHC Class I Molecules in Porto. This event represented a recognized conceptual turning point that reshaped the understanding of MHC-I functions beyond classical antigen presentation, placing Portuguese immunology and translational science at the forefront of this major strategic EMBO transition (EMBO Rep. 2008;10(1):30–34. doi: 10.1038/embor.2008.215). He has coordinated several funded projects and mentored 7 PhD and 7 MSc students. Over the last six years, his research has focused on identifying novel immunological biomarkers of cognition in elderly people from the Beira Interior region.