Prof Sheila Martins is Founder and President of the Brazilian Stroke Network, Neurology Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Coordinator of Stroke Programme at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, and Chief of Neurology and Neurosurgery Service at Hospital Moinhos de Vento (private hospital affiliated to Johns Hopkins Institute). She completed her PhD in stroke neurology in 2008 at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo.
In 2008, as advisor of the Ministry of Health, she started the organisation of the National Stroke Programme. She collaborated to create the National Stroke Policy of the Ministry of Health (April 2012) and is now working for the establishment of the policy, building stroke units and organising stroke systems around the country. In the World Stroke Organization (WSO) she is a member of the Executive Board, and member of the Guidelines and Quality Committee. Research Committee and the World Stroke Campaign Committee. She has been the coordinator of the World Stroke Campaign in Brazil since 2009.