Paulo Gomes was introduced to Exercise and Sports Physiology early in the 1970s as an undergrad student in Physical Education at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

 

He first worked as a trainee at the Exercise Physiology Laboratory (LABOFISE) under the late Emeritus Professor Maurício José Leal Rocha, M.D. After his graduation, he continued to work at LABOFISE. Then he was invited by Edmundo Vieites Novaes, M.D., to join the Human Performance Laboratory at the Universidade Gama Filho (R.J.).

 

Later, Dr. Gomes completed his M.Sc. in Physical Education (Child Growth & Development) under the renowned Canadian scientist Dr. Donald A. Bailey and his co-worker Dr. Robert L. Mirwald at the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Sask, Canada).

 

Subsequently, Dr. Gomes received his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB, Canada) under Dr. Ross MacNab and Yagesh Bhambhani. Dr. Bhambhani was the academic mentor of Dr. Gomes's Ph.D. thesis on the effects of training on the ventilatory threshold.

 

Upon returning to Brazil, he was offered an assistant professor position at the School of Physical Education and Sports (Universidade de São Paulo) undergrad and grad programs.

 

Later (1993), he was offered a Full Professor position in the Physical Education and Sports grad program at Universidade Gama Filho (R.J.). Dr. Manoel Gomes Tubino (Vice-rector of Academics) was responsible for Dr. Gomes's move to this new position. The following year, Dr. Gomes joined the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at the Brazilian Air Force, leading the physiological preparation of the Brazilian Soccer Squad FIFA's 1994 World Champions. 

 

Later, during his sabbatical year, as a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Florida (1998-99), he was strongly influenced by the guidance of a fine and renowned investigator and world leader in the area of exercise physiology, Dr. Michael L. Pollock, director of the Center for Exercise Sciences at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, USA), former president of the American College of Sports Medicine).

 

On his return to Brazil (1999), he started the Laboratory Crossbridges at Universidade Gama Filho. He began his projects on resistance exercise's acute and chronic effects on strength and health-related quality of life. Later, Dr. Bhambhani, a long-time contributor to the Laboratory, introduced Dr. Gomes and his team to the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique. Dr. Gomes and his team were the first to use this tool in studies with resistance exercises in Brazil. Several Ph.D. theses and M.Sc. dissertations, as well as research papers, were published based on this technique.

 

With the closure of Universidade Gama Filho, Dr. Gomes was invited to join the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. First, as Visiting Professor, and since 2015, in a full-time tenure position working in the undergrad programs in Physical Education. He has been the head of the Laboratory Crossbridges since.

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He was part of the group establishing the Graduate Program in Exercise and Sport Sciences (April 16th, 2014). Lately, he was the head of the Department of Physical Activity Sciences for a two-year term (2021-2023).

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