Manuela Dorado N., MPH

Manuela is a Project Manager and neuroscience researcher with over seven years of experience at the intersection of immunology, quantitative analysis, and global health. Her work bridges science, data, and strategy to accelerate progress in Alzheimer’s disease, vaccine development, and medicine quality.

Manuela serves as Project Manager at the NeuroImmune Catalyst Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in transformative companies and technologies for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She previously worked as a consultant for Next Frontier Advisors (NFA), a consultancy operating at the nexus of human immunology, vaccine R&D, and AI, where she contributed to a Wellcome Trust– and Novo Nordisk Foundation–commissioned landscape review on vaccine-induced mucosal immunity.

At Johns Hopkins University, Manuela led quantitative research for the Behavioral and Educational Strategies for Avoiding Falsified Medicine Exposure (BESAFE) project, conducting meta-analyses and epidemiological modeling to quantify the global burden of substandard and falsified medicines across maternal, newborn, and oncology health. Her work integrated statistical modeling, epidemiological evidence, and policy translation to inform strategies for medicine quality and health systems strengthening.

Previously, Manuela advanced Alzheimer’s and dementia research at Gates Ventures, where she supported the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative (ADDI) — a global biomedical data-sharing platform built in collaboration with NIH, ARPA-H, and major research institutions. Her analyses and data infrastructure work helped position ADDI as a trusted federally recognized repository for Alzheimer’s research. Earlier in her career, she conducted global epidemiological data analysis on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias data at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), work that contributed to the institute’s Global Burden of Disease work. Prior to that, Manuela conducted hands-on neuroscience research in nonhuman primates at the Buffalo Laboratory, University of Washington, studying the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory using behavioral, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological approaches.

Manuela holds a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she was named a Dean’s Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from the University of Washington.