Meet Teófilo Vasconcelos, Director, Pharmaceutical Sciences!

ACADEMIA AND MOTIVATION
I was born in Matosinhos, a city near Porto, but my roots are in Cinfães, a small village on the south side of the Douro River. As a child, I spent nearly every weekend there with my cousins, immersed in a farm environment, playing in the crop fields and helping with the hard, physically demanding, and time-unbound work of the land. It was tough but deeply rewarding. From as early as age six, whenever someone asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would say, “I want to learn more.” And to this day, that sentence still defines me. I studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto. I enjoyed biology and chemistry, so why not both? It did not take long to realize I had made the right choice. The academic spirit helped too. While working at BIAL, I pursued a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Technology, also at the University of Porto. Later, in 2020 – at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – I completed my PhD in Biomedical Sciences at ICBAS (School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences), University of Porto, focusing on drug delivery systems to enhance bioavailability.

WHY BIAL?
When I chose to pursue a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, I already knew one thing for sure: I did not see myself working in a traditional pharmacy. One day, while watching the news on TV, I saw a story about a pharmaceutical company, BIAL, that had just moved to its new facilities in Trofa. The news segment mentioned that the company used geese as guards. I turned to my mom and said, “That’s the company I want to work for.” A few years later, in January 2002, I saw a job advertisement from BIAL. They were looking for a newly graduated pharmacist for a temporary position. At the time, I was still finishing my mandatory internship in a pharmacy. With little hope, I applied, and to my surprise, I got the offer. Now, 23 years later, here I am. That temporary position became permanent. The young scientist became a senior scientist, then manager of the New Formulations team, and since 2019, I have had the honour of leading the Pharmaceutical Sciences group.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK AT BIAL?
Working in Pharmaceutical Sciences at a company like BIAL is a privilege. Our size and structure allow us to have end-to-end knowledge and involvement across the entire R&D process. It is the real meaning of “from bench to bedside.” I often say that once a project reaches our team, while it is still in the discovery phase, it only leaves us if it is stopped or sold. Working in the Pharmaceutical Sciences team is like being an octopus, a comparison once made by Chiara Rossato, and it could not be more accurate. Why an octopus? Because we are involved in so many different types of activities at the same time. I believe there is not a single team at BIAL that does not interact regularly with us. Over the years, I have also worked on key legacy products, helping to bring efficiency improvements and ensure they remain strategic assets for BIAL. At BIAL, I have had the opportunity to make a difference for patients, and also for the company itself. So far, it has been an incredible journey, but there is still so much more to achieve.