Project Manager and Research Assistant, PPPdoBrasil

Bruna joined the PPP do Brasil team in January 2023, as both Research Assistant and Project Manager of creativity and mental health projects in Brazil.  From 2023 to 2025 she has worked on a variety of collaborative projects exploring community cultural activities as a mental health resource in the favelas of Maré, Manguinhos and Cidade de Deus.  From October 2025 she begins a new role on PPPdoBrasil’s ‘Fresh Start’ (Recomeçar é Possível) project working with street homeless people in Rio de Janeiro.

With roots in the Midwest and Northeast of Brazil, Bruna was born in Mato Grosso and grew up in the countryside of Goiás. There, she worked as a graphic proofreader and press assistant for the Government of Goiás and lectured in Journalism and communications and advertisement courses at Unifasam.  In 2018 Bruna moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she worked on research and extension projects for the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) that involved public health, technology, culture and community.  She worked at Maré’s Third Mental Health Week, Rema Maré III, in November 2022.  Alongside her role at PPPdoBrasil, she also works with Fiocruz.

Bruna holds a PhD in Health Information and Communication (PPGICS-ICICT-Fiocruz), a Master’s in Communication, Culture and Citizenship (FIC-UFG) and a degree in Journalism. Her research focuses on the relationship between communication and mental health, and her work is guided by communication as a human right and the human vocation of “Being More”, as taught by Paulo Freire.