Silvia da Costa serves as Director of Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII), as well as Diversity Officer for Research and Innovation and is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Mann School of Pharmacy. RII advocates for faculty research interests and supports faculty-led research across the university, including faculty mentoring, development and training, through the Center of Excellence in Research. Additionally, RII has oversight of shared core facility resources, internal USC-funded grants and awards programs and research funding.
She received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California. Her research focused on cytoskeletal filament system regulation of membrane traffic and development of a disease model for Sjögren’s syndrome. She also holds bachelor’s degrees in Physics, French and Journalism, is a native speaker of English and Portuguese, and has working knowledge of Spanish, French and Italian. Previously, she worked as a Research Scientist for Access Business Group, investigating the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants for use in therapeutic product development. Silvia holds various product patents.