Nilsa de Deus is a senior public health researcher, academic leader, and mentor. She holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) and a PhD in Medicine and Animal Health from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).

She is currently a Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Health (INS) in Mozambique, where she leads a multidisciplinary research group dedicated to Pediatric Precision Health. Her scientific work focuses extensively on vaccine immunogenicity and vaccine impact studies, including those on rotavirus and poliovirus, as well as on the epidemiology of paediatric infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2. Throughout her career, she has led major clinical trials and public health evaluations aimed at optimising vaccine performance in low-resource settings.

In addition to her research leadership, Dr de Deus serves as President of the Institutional Ethics Committee (CIE-INS). Deeply committed to capacity building and the training of the next generation of African scientists, she is an Associate Professor at two higher education institutions, coordinator of a postgraduate programme in Health Sciences at INS, and has mentored more than 50 young graduates, including 10 PhD graduates. She has authored and co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications.