The contributions of women in the scientific field have been protagonists this year
These ten women made scientific and medical contributions on behalf of patients in Puerto Rico and the world.
The woman has undoubtedly been protagonist of Puerto Rican science this year, contributing to be part of the common front against different diseases and especially with the management of the COVID-19 virus in Puerto Rico.
While some are in their laboratories seeking to find answers that will contribute to the advancement of different diseases that affect Puerto Ricans, others are implementing clinical and research strategies that complement these efforts.
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We present some of them:
Dr. Carmen Zorrilla
Dra. Carmen Zorrilla, scientist and gynecologist, obstetrician and director of CEMI.
Scientist and gynecologist, obstetrician and director of CEMI. Pioneer in the research of HIV and other viruses in Puerto Rico and who starred in the feat that placed Puerto Rico on the world map achieving the elimination of the transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from mothers to children.
Dr. Zorrilla has also been part of the achievement of reducing the number of premature births through the creation of a prenatal care model from the Pediatric University Hospital of the Medical Center.
The also dean of research at the Medical Sciences Campus participates in studies to develop more vaccines against covid-19 and has stood out for her commitment to the health of pregnant women in Puerto Rico.
Dra. Kenira Thompson
Dr. Kenira Thompson, President of Ponce Research Institute
Thanks to the contributions of Dr. Thompson, it has been possible to identify variants of interest of COVID-19 in the Country and in addition, strategies have been implemented to manage the pandemic in Puerto Rico. The scientist has also contributed to the promotion of access to diagnostic tests to detect time transmission chains of the virus.
Dr. Idhaliz Flores Caldera
Dra. Idhaliz Flores Caldera, Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Ponce Health Sciences University.
Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Ponce Health Sciences University and scientist who has led the advancement in the understanding and management of endometriosis in Puerto Rican women and the manifestation of the disease in female populations Hispanics, including the genes involved in its development.
Being emphatic in her educational discourse, has emphasized in making known that the disease can be disabling from pelvic pain that produces, bleeding outside the menstrual period and even infertility.
Dra. Melissa Marzán
Dra. Melissa Marzán, Assistant Professor at Ponce Health Science University.
Chief Epidemiology Officer of the Department of Health and Assistant Professor at Ponce Health Science University.
Marzán has more than 13 years of work experience, including a role in the country’s epidemiological response to HIV and has led important public health research in Puerto Rico.
In addition, he was part of the team of epidemiologists that established the first online syndromic monitoring platform in order to obtain data that would allow us to know the possible outbreaks of COVID-19 and evaluate how the virus behaves on the island, a model that was implemented in Harvard University.
Dr. Vanessa Rivera Amill
Dra. Vanessa Rivera Amill, Scientific Director of INNO Diagnostics.
Microbiologist and associate dean of the doctoral program of biomedical sciences at Ponce Health Sciences University and scientific director of INNO Diagnostics.
It is the only immunology reference laboratory affiliated with an academic institution – the PHSU – that has been certified by the World Health Organization to sequence HIV genotypes in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America.
In addition, he teaches immunology classes to students of medicine, medical sciences, and doctoral programs at the same institution.
Iliette Frontera
Iliette Frontera, VP of Operations for Boston Scientific in Puerto Rico
Frontera serves as VP of Operations for Boston Scientific in Puerto Rico, manufacturer of 100% of the leads (cables) used in the world to attend cardiac and neurological conditions and has been vocal in educating on the importance of increasing the number of women in the field of engineering, manufacturing and research.
Graduated from the Mayagüez Campus of the UPR, the industrial engineer has 18 years of experience in the manufacture of medical devices and since 2005 she has been with Boston Scientific.
Dr. Michelle Martínez Montemayor
Dra. Michelle Martínez Montemayor, Professor of the Department of Biochemistry of the Central University of the Caribbean.
Professor of the Department of Biochemistry of the Central Caribbean University, the scientist discovered that the fungus Ganoderma lucidum contains anticancer properties, which recently received a patent by a Canadian pharmaceutical company with the hope of creating a drug that helps breast cancer patients to survive the disease, the most prevalent type of cancer among Puerto Ricans.
Martínez Montemayor found that ergosterol peroxide stops the growth of cells that cause both inflammatory breast cancer (a very lethal cancer subtype) and triple negative breast cancer (another therapy-resistant tumor subtype).
Dra. Maribella Domenech García
Dra. Maribella Domenech, Professor at the Mayagüez Campus of the UPR.
Professor at the Mayagüez University Campus of the UPR who, using biomedical technology, has replicated cell models of triple negative breast cancer –the same one that Dr. Martínez Montemayor is investigating– to understand why it resists different medical treatments.
The engineer seeks to test existing drugs and experimental drugs in her cell models created in laboratories to identify which are most effective in fighting the disease.
Its goals are to replicate the cellular model of other cancers, identify personalized medical treatments from patients’ own cells, and establish a niche for the study and diagnosis of all types of cancer using the discipline of biotechnology.
Dr. Marcia Cruz Correa
Dra. Marcia Cruz Correa, Gastroenterologist and Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Puerto Rico
Gastroenterologist and executive director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Puerto Rico and member of the Board of Directors of the “Association of American Cancer Institutes” (AACI) along with other leaders of cancer centers in the United States.
She also serves as Principal Investigator for the Hispanic Alliance for Clinical and Translational Research (AACR), and serves as Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas School of Medicine. from Johns Hopkins.
She has been a pioneer in scientific research on colon cancer in Puerto Rico and stomach cancer.
Dr. Ángeles Rodríguez
Dra. Ángeles Rodríguez, Infectologist
An infectologist who has been fighting bacteria and infectious diseases for more than 30 years, such as COVID-19.
She was also a State epidemiologist in the Department of Health from 2000 to 2003 and part of the Biosafety Program of the department itself.
This brave and respected Puerto Rican professional, while pregnant, treated patients with HIV when it was not yet known what caused the virus.
When she gave birth to her children, she continued to carry out this work, but if any of them got sick, they led her to have high doses of anxiety about what was going on in those times. Today it is one of the leading opinions measuring the impact of health strategies against COVID-19 on the Island.
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