Joana Palha (born 1969) is a neuroscientist and professor at the School of Medicine of the University of Minho, in Braga in the north of Portugal.
[1][2] Palha is a neuroscientist whose work has focused mainly on iodine nutrition, endocrinology (thyroid), pregnancy, ageing and the barriers of the brain.
From 1996 to 1999, she was an assistant professor at the Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde Egas Moniz in Gandra, Portugal.
She then moved to the Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular in Porto before, in 2001, joining the University of Minho medical school as an assistant professor.
[1][2][3] Palha's studies on thyroid hormones during pregnancy contributed to the current Portuguese guidelines for iodine supplementation to pregnant women.