Helena Nader
Helena Bonciani Nader is a Brazilian biomedical scientist based at the Federal University of São Paulo. She served as President of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science from 2011 to 2017. She works in glycobiology, specialising in the characterisation of proteoglycans. She is a member of The World Academy of Sciences.Early life and education
Nader was born in São Paulo. She spent her childhood in São Paulo and Curitiba. She was a high school student in the United States. She studied biomedical sciences at the Federal University of São Paulo and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1970. She simultaneously earned a bachelor's degree in education at the University of São Paulo, before beginning her doctoral studies in molecular biology. She was supervised by Carl Von Peter Dietrich. Nader earned a doctorate at the Federal University of São Paulo in 1974. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California.Research and career
Nader returned to the Federal University of São Paulo, where she was made a Professor in 1989. Nader studies glycobiology, investigating proteoglycans, a complex class of glycoconjugates. She studies how proteoglycans such as heparan sulfate are involved in hemostasis. Her work involves nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and fragment analysis. She holds visiting professorships at Loyola University Medical Center and The W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center.
Nader is an advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion in science and engineering. She has been a member of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science since 1969, and took part in resistance to the military dictatorship. She was appointed President of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science in 2011. She was the third woman to hold the position, after Carolina Bori and Glaci Zancan. She held the position for three terms, handing over the position in 2017. During her time as president, she encouraged the allocation of oil royalties to science and technology.Awards and honours
