Dr. Joicymara Xavier is a PhD in Bioinformatics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) with a Research Internship at the Center of Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI, Stellenbosch University, South Africa). She is currently a tenured Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Vales of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri (Brazil), a Research Fellow at the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking (CERI, Stellenbosch University), a Data Science consultant in the DS-I INFORM Africa project, and the Principal Investigator of the INFORM Africa pilot project titled “Predicting COVID-19 variants in Africa through Active Learning and Hierarchical Classification.”  During her doctoral journey, Dr. Xavier received three prestigious awards, including the best thesis in Biological Sciences defended in Brazil in 2022.

Her thesis, “ThermoMutDB and SARS-CoV-2 Africa Dashboard: data science approaches for biological data integration, analytics, and surveillance”, has generated attention for its innovative solutions to integrate biomedical and surveillance data.  Dr. Xavier also leads an NGO, Code X, that aims to introduce technological concepts to young and vulnerable girls. Prior to her PhD., Dr. Xavier also earned a Master’s in Computer Science and Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, gaining valuable experience in Software Engineering and Computer Science projects.  Dr. Xavier has published her research in leading Bioinformatics journals, including Nature Microbiology, Nucleic Acids Research, and Briefings in Bioinformatics. Her research interests include Biological Data Engineering, Health Informatics, Machine Learning, and Mutation Effects Analysis.