Born in Angola, Fátima Carneiro received the M.D. from the University of Porto and the Doctoral degree at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto in 1993. At present, Fátima Carneiro is Full Professor of Anatomic Pathology (Medical Faculty of Porto), Head of Department of Anatomic Pathology (Centro Hospitalar S. João, Porto) and Senior Researcher at IPATIMUP. She is Immediate Past President of the European Society of Pathology, Coordinator of the Portuguese Network of Tumour Banks and council member of the International Gastric Cancer Linkage Consortium (IGCLC) and the International Gastric Cancer Association (IGGA).

Fátima Carneiro is co-author of more than 200 peer reviewed papers (h factor: 44) and of chapters of books issued by WHO ("Pathology & Genetics of Tumours of the Digestive Tract", 2000; "Classification of Tumours of the Digestive System", 2010) and UICC (Handbook on "Comprehensive Tumour Terminology", 2001).

Her research is directed towards understanding of i) etiopathogenesis of gastric cancer, with emphasis on the study of the interplay between Helicobacter pylori virulence factors and host genetic variability in gastric carcinogenesis; ii) molecular basis of gastric carcinoma development, with an emphasis on Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Carcinoma (HDGC).