Filipe’s interest in Microbiology started in his time at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center (now UNIFIED) in Ypsilanti, MI where he worked to provide culturally aware HIV care and transmission prevention. He graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Microbiology at The University of Texas at Austin. He is now in a Ph.D. program in Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Michigan. His graduate studies are in the Koropatkin Lab where he focuses on the starch-active proteins expressed by Ruminococcus bromii, a common human gut bacterium linked to human health outcomes. He is co-founder of the DEI Taskforce at UMich whose mission is to create an inclusive environment in the biomedical research community.