At age 18, I came to the capital to study medicine at USP, carrying the naive certainty that science would answer everything. I was halfway through my neurology residency when, in 1995, a skull tumor crossed my path, with neurosurgery even scheduled for September of that year.
The tumor was benign. But I didn’t know that on the night I received the diagnosis, nor during the weeks of waiting that followed. It was there, lying between tests and moments of silence, that death ceased to be a concept and became a presence. For the first time, I understood that my body wasn’t mine—it was on loan, fragile, finite. The certainty I’d carried since I was 18 crumbled: medicine didn’t have all the answers. It told me what was in my head, but not what to do about the fear, about meaning, about the life I hadn’t yet lived. Uncertainty is inevitable; suffering, I later learned, is optional. But at that moment, I only knew the first part.
The existential crisis that followed wasn’t a drama; it was a question that wouldn’t let me go: if life can end at any moment, what was I doing with mine? It was that question that led me to the couch of a Freudian psychoanalyst. I fell in love with the art of listening; I left my neurology residency, took the exam again, and was accepted into the psychiatry residency program at the Institute of Psychiatry at USP’s Hospital das Clínicas, where I earned my specialist certification. The couch taught me to listen to what is left unsaid—a skill I still bring to meetings, negotiations, and team leadership today. And above all, it taught me that naming suffering is the first step toward managing it.
I dove headfirst into the corporate world and served as a medical manager at companies such as AstraZeneca, Organon, and Grünenthal; as Medical Lead at Pfizer for Latin America; Medical Director at United Medical Biotoscana; and a medical consultant for Janssen, Mantecorp Farma Hypera Hipermarcas, and Cellera Farma. I participated in preceptorship programs at Harvard in Cambridge on major depressive disorder; at Yale in New Haven on bipolar disorder; and at Columbia in New York on schizophrenia. I completed the two-year “Conflict and Symptom” program at Sedes Sapientiae and began my psychoanalytic training. In the pharmaceutical industry, I became a lecturer in neuroscience, teaching courses on maintaining mental health through lifestyle changes and on neuroscience and psychoanalysis applied to everyday life, reaching executives, physicians, and leaders throughout Brazil.
Ten years ago, I added a new frontier to my journey: research into the endocannabinoid system and medical cannabis, which convinced me that the body’s natural chemical regulation is the foundation for treating mental illnesses in a more natural way. Today, in my practice, I treat all mental illnesses in a more natural way through Subcellular Convergence Psychiatry, which combines phytopharmacology, allopathy when indicated, and food as treatments, with a focus on facilitating the chemical reactions necessary for energy production and proper cellular nutrition, while reducing excessive inflammation and oxidation and the production of free radicals, peroxides, and other toxic agents. By caring for the cells, we care for the body as a whole—and this also applies to the executive who needs clarity to make decisions.
The study of the works of Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Jacques Lacan, the Stoicism of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus, as well as Plato, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, David Eagleman, Robert Sapolsky, Adam Grant, and Daniel Kahneman has made it clear to me that the brain and the psychic apparatus have a life independent of our will. In the business world, this is even more evident: System 1—automatic, fast, based on patterns and past experiences, yet intuitive—operates unconsciously and is subject to biases, making decisions before you even have a chance to think. In a meeting, a sales pitch, or a difficult negotiation, the amygdala fires, the body reacts, and we simply watch—until we learn to control these processes. My goal is to train people to recognize what the primitive brain and the amygdala are, and how System 1 dominates us and reduces us to mere mouthpieces for automatic processes. I have the tools to help people become the CEOs of their own brains. And here’s the good news for the business world: this isn’t just about mental health—it’s a competitive advantage. A leader who regulates their emotions makes better decisions, negotiates better, and gets sick less often.
Today, in addition to my private practice, I work with companies and professionals who want to put neuroscience into practice, offering lectures on mental health and lifestyle, leadership training, and support for high-performance teams. It is in this spirit that I introduce myself to this network. At BNI, I deeply believe in the “Givers Gain” philosophy: those who give, receive. My contribution is to offer professionals and entrepreneurs what I’ve learned over three decades in private practice, academia, and industry—and what I learned on that night in 1995, when I realized that life is too short to be lived on autopilot. If you want to understand how the brain influences your sales, your negotiations, and your decisions, I’m here to help. Because all business is done by brains—and well-managed brains build thriving companies and enable people to live better lives.
