Dr. Ana Teresa Sanches Silva
Ana Sanches-Silva is a Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Her research focuses on food safety, innovative packaging technologies, including active and edible packaging, and the study of the migration of packaging constituents into food. She has extensive expertise in analytical methodologies, particularly mass spectrometry, for the detection and characterization of bioactive compounds, food contaminants such as plant toxins, mycotoxins and pesticide residues, and packaging migrants. Her recent research has also focused on the valorization of plants and food by-products through the development of natural extracts for incorporation into active and edible packaging systems. Throughout her career, she has received more than twenty research awards in recognition of her scientific contributions. In 2024, she received the prestigious Food Packaging Award in honor of Don Riester, Rees Davis, and Aaron Brody from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), one of the leading international distinctions in the field of food packaging. Since 2021, she has also been consistently included among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in the Stanford/Elsevier ranking of the world’s most highly cited scientists.