Mucida received his undergraduate degree in biology, with an emphasis on biochemistry and immunology, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil in 2000. He received his Ph.D. jointly from the University of São Paulo and New York University in 2005. After postdoctoral studies at the La Jolla Institute from 2006 to 2010, he joined The Rockefeller University as assistant professor in 2010. In 2016, he was promoted to associate professor. In 2021, he was promoted to professor with tenure.

Mucida studies how the immune system associated with intestinal mucosae is able to generate efficient immune responses without jeopardizing its tolerance to innocuous antigens. For his work, he has received several awards, including the New Scholar Award from the Ellison Foundation, Career Development Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, Young Investigator Award from the Society for Mucosal Immunology and NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award.