Sâmia Joca graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biochemistry from the Federal University of Paraná, in Brazil (1999) and obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from the Medical School at the University of Sao Paulo (USP, 2004). After 2 years of post-doctoral training at the same University, with short training visits abroad (Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine) she was appointed Tenured Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCFRP), at USP.

SJ successfully established and coordinated the first research group in psychopharmacology at FCFRP-USP and, a few years later (2014), she received the title “Live-docente” (similar to dr.med. in Denmark) and was appointed Associate Professor at USP. While at USP, SJ was enrolled in two different post-graduate programmes, where she supervised several students, PhDs and postdocs.  She was also involved in teaching and administrative responsibilities, besides leading the research group.

Due to collaborations with Aarhus University (AU), including the exchange of PhD students with double enrollment (AU and USP), in 2016 SJ was appointed Honorary Professor at AU (Translational Neuropsychiatry Unit - TNU, Department of Clinical Medicine). In 2018, she joined the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) as a senior fellow with a Marie Curie Fellowship. In October 2020, SJ became an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedicine (Heath Faculty, Aarhus University), where she established a new research group. Her research interests are centred on the neurobiological mechanisms associated with the emotional consequences of stress and how such mechanisms can be pharmacologically modulated to predict better treatment options for mental disorders.