Dr. Valdir Cechinel-Filho is a native of Urussanga, in the south of Santa Catarina. He holds a master’s degree and doctorate in Organic Chemistry from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He was elected rector of the University of Vale do Itajaí and president of the Univali Foundation for the first time in 2018 and re-elected for the management four years 2022-2026. He was Pro-Rector and Vice-Rector of the University of Vale do Itajaí from 2002 to 2018. He is a professor and researcher at Univali’s Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and develops research projects in collaboration with national and international researchers. He is a 1B researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and works as coordinator of the RIBIOFAR/CYTED/CNPq Network and RIBECANCER/CYTED/CNPq. He has experience in the area of Organic Chemistry, with an emphasis on Natural Products Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry, acting mainly on the following topics: bioactive natural products, synthesis of molecules of biological interest, and evaluation of the relationship between chemical-natural activity structure. He has more than 400 published articles, 50 books and book chapters, and 12 patent applications. He directed about 50 dissertations and theses. He acts as a reviewer in more than 50 journals and serves as Associate Editor of the journal Pharmaceutical Biology.