[1] Feliciangeli first worked with insects during her first degree in Rome (Dissertation, Experimental research on chemosterilizers for housefly control (Ricerche sperimentali sui chemosterilanti per il controllo di Musca domestica)).
In 1972, she was appointed at the University of Carabobo, initially as an assistant to Witremundo Torrealba [es], the head of the Parasitology Department.
[1] Her research focused on the epidemiology, immunology and diagnostics of both the parasites and insect vectors for American trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.
She led research that established two transmission cycles for cutaneous leishmaniasis with the sand fly Lutzomyia migonei as the insect vector.
María Dora Feliciangeli within the Venezuelan Incubadora Venezolana de la ciencia for multidisciplinary research into tropical disease is named after her.