Flávio Milman Shansis was born in Brazil into a family deeply rooted in the history of Jewish immigration to South America. On his paternal side, his great-great-grandfather was among the pioneers who arrived in 1904 to establish the Philippson Colony, the first organized Jewish agricultural settlement in Brazil, established by the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA), founded by Baron Maurice de Hirsch. On his maternal side, his family came to Brazil from another Jewish agricultural colony established by the JCA in northern Argentina. All four of his grandparents were born in Eastern Europe.

He has been actively involved in the Masorti movement for many years through leadership roles at both the local and regional levels. He recently completed two consecutive terms as President of the Jewish Community Center of Porto Alegre, the leading Masorti community in southern Brazil. He has served on the Board of Masorti AmLat for the past four years as Vice President and Coordinator of the Atlantic Region, representing Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In 2024, he served as General Coordinator of שיתוף, the annual Masorti AmLat conference held in Porto Alegre.

Professionally, he is a physician and psychiatrist. He holds an MSc in Biochemistry, a PhD in Medical Sciences, and completed postdoctoral training in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He serves as Vice Dean of the School of Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA). He is the Director of the Integrated Laboratory of Behavioral Phenotypes (LIFE Lab), where he supervises master's and doctoral students and leads research on adult ADHD, mood disorders, and suicidal behavior at the interface between clinical psychiatry and psychiatric genetics. He is also actively engaged in clinical practice, providing psychiatric care to adults in his private practice. He previously served as President of the Psychiatric Association of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and has developed extensive national and international collaborations in clinical and translational psychiatry.

His longstanding commitment to Jewish communal leadership, combined with his academic experience and international collaborations, reflects his dedication to strengthening the Masorti movement in Latin America and around the world.