history

I have dedicated my career precisely to addressing health inequities through applied research and social and technological innovation. My childhood trips accompanying my mother to the Ancash mountains and as a medical student working in rural communities in San Martín, in the Peruvian jungle, marked the beginning of my deep commitment to vulnerable populations. After graduating with honors as a physician-surgeon from the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University and looking to expand the impact of my work, I crossed borders thanks to a scholarship, traveling to Seattle, United States. There, I completed a master's and doctorate in Public Health at the University of Washington, specializing in epidemiology with certificates in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV; and in Medical Informatics.

I developed an interest in the study of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to solve health problems. I combined my interests in STIs and ICTs in my doctoral thesis, for which I received the Global Health Council's New Investigator in Global Health Award in 2010. In 2011, I won a competitive fellowship from the Fogarty Program of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, thanks to which I implemented and led the AINBO project, which means "woman" in the indigenous Shipibo-Konibo language. This project, carried out in rural communities of Ucayali in the Peruvian jungle belonging to this indigenous group, evaluated the association of two viruses: HTLV, which causes leukemia and lymphoma, and the Human Papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer.

I have been the principal investigator in more than a dozen public health research studies and lead the Mamás del Río program, an initiative scientifically proven to improve maternal and child health in the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon through community-based interventions and the use of technology. This initiative has evolved into the creation of Ikara, a platform that seeks to increase knowledge about Indigenous and Amazonian health through research in sexual and reproductive health, mental health, community leadership, climate change, environmental pollution, and human rights. While I have received numerous recognitions throughout my career, these have driven me to continue working with humility and determination and serve as a reminder of the responsibility I have assumed: to be a beacon of change and the pursuit of equity in the field of public health.

I continue to aspire for my work to be a bridge toward more comprehensive, inclusive, and equitable health care and social protection, transforming lives through science, technology, and empathy. I hope that one day my story will serve as a testament to how passion and perseverance can contribute to a healthier and more just world for all.