Dr. Fernanda Santos obtained her B.S. degree in Medicine Veterinary from Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil in 2000 and Ph.D degree in Animal and Poultry Sciences with minor in Biotechnology and Food Safety from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina in 2006. Her research area includes industry and academia. She worked as Veterinarian for Bayer in Brazil, a Researcher in food safety and microbiology at NC State University, Raleigh, and as a Microbiology Researcher for the Brazilian Department of Agriculture. She is also reviewer for 6+ peer-reviewed journals related to microbiology, food safety and food borne disease topics, as well as, epidemiology and veterinary sciences. Her current line of research included pre- and post-harvest food safety of poultry and poultry products, waste management, poultry industry development, food safety of poultry-related products and risk analysis for the egg industry. Her main goal is to discover how the normal intestinal microbial populations could help the host overcome pathogen colonization and subsequently disease. Dr. Fernanda joined the Department of Health & Biomedical Sciences of Adventist University of Health Sciences as an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology in January 2012, and strongly believes in the guiding principles of Adventist University of Health Sciences - Nurture, Excellence, Spirituality, and Stewardship. She looks forward every day to reduce the “distance” between the faculty and the students from the distance-learning program by implementing effective communication methods. She has also started a line of research that deals with probiotics and prebiotics, and their potential use as a tool to improve human health.