Patricia J. García
Born
Lima, Peru
Alma materCayetano Heredia University
University of Washington
AwardsMember of the National Academy of Medicine
Scientific career
FieldsGlobal health

Public health

Sexually transmitted diseases

Reproductive health

InstitutionsMinistry of Health (Peru)

Patricia Jannet García Funegra is a Peruvian professor of public and global health at Cayetano Heredia University. She originally trained as a clinician before focusing on research and public health. Her work also focuses on reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, and medical informatics.[1] In 2016-17 García was the Minister of Health of Peru. She was the first Peruvian to be elected to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2016.[2]

Early life

García was born in Lima, Peru to parents Olga Funegra Marcellini, a housewife, and Humberto García Taylor, a journalist.[3][4] Her mother had emigrated from Huánuco.[1]

Education

García graduated from medical school at Cayetano Heredia University in 1988, becoming the first in her family to obtain a university degree.[4][1] She later completed a Masters in Public Health (MPH), Epidemiology in 1998 at the University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health.[5] In 2011, García completed a PhD at Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH).[6][7]

Career

In 1991, García moved to the US for a clinical residency program at Jackson Memorial Hospital with the University of Miami,[6][8] and was Chief Medical Resident for 1993–94. She moved to Seattle as a postdoctoral fellow in infectious diseases at the University of Washington.[9] She was encouraged to work here by Dr King Holmes who became García’s mentor.[4][9] At UW she began training with the Fogarty International Centre International AIDS Research and Training Program.[10] She stayed at UW to undertake a Masters in Public Health.

García returned to Lima in 1997, and worked at the Ministry of Health of Peru within the National STD/AIDS Control Program, developing guidelines for management of patients with STDs.[4] In 1999, she became Associate Professor, Vice Dean, and Coordinator of the Epidemiology, STD and HIV Unit, at the School of Public Health at UPCH.[4][6] She was granted full professorship in 2004.[6] García helped establish the Global Health Demonstration Program at UPCH in 2006. This National Institutes of Health-funded program aimed to support training of global health scholars, improve inclusion of researchers from the Global South in global health policy making, and strengthen the use of research in policy making.[6]

She was also the Chief of Peru's National Health Institutes from 2006-2008, the first woman in the country to hold that position.[4][11] During her term, the Institutes developed a national programme on STDs, supported development of a critically acclaimed web-based laboratory information system (NETLAB), and placed a stronger focus on neglected diseases and environmental health issues such as human bartonellosis, hydatid disease, and traffic accidents.[4]

In 2011, García became Dean of the School of Public Health at UPCH, a position she held until 2016.[6][11] During this time she helped introduce a new undergraduate training program in Public Health and Global Health at the university.[12] She held a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2018;[1] teaching a course on leadership and development in global health.

García served as Regional Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Association for the Control of STIs from 2006-2011, and as President from 2011-16.[6][13][14] She has also served on WHO committees for topics including reproductive health and human papillomavirus vaccines.[3] She is currently a high level advisory board member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.[15]

Other activities

Awards and honours

García became the first Peruvian to be elected to US National Academy of Medicine in 2016.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Patricia Garcia, former Minister of Health of Peru". Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  2. 1 2 "National Academy of Medicine Elects 80 New Members". National Academy of Medicine. 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  3. 1 2 "Futura ministra de Salud tiene raíces huanuqueñas". Página3. 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schatz, Joseph (2009-10-17). "Patricia Garcia: promoting public health research in Peru". The Lancet. 374 (9698): 1321. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61811-0. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 19837241. S2CID 27240114.
  5. ↑ "ASPPH | Washington Graduate Named Peru's New Health Minister". www.aspph.org. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Dr. Patricia J. Garcia CV" (PDF). World Health Organization. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  7. ↑ "Advancing research in Peru: Q and A with Dr Patricia Garcia - Fogarty International Center @ NIH". www.fic.nih.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  8. ↑ "Renowned Harrington Medical Training Program Celebrates 50th Anniversary | Miller School of Medicine | University of Miami". med.miami.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  9. 1 2 "HS Newsbeat: Women Took Path Through UW to Lead Nations' Efforts on Health". globalhealth.washington.edu. 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  10. ↑ "Advancing research in Peru: Q and A with Dr Patricia Garcia - Fogarty International Center @ NIH". www.fic.nih.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  11. 1 2 "Científicas peruanas: Patricia García, la médica que mira de frente el problema del VIH". El Comercio. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  12. ↑ "With a population, public health, social determinants and leadership vision, the new career in Public Health and Global Health of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia was presented". Pan American Health Organization. 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  13. ↑ Garcia, Patricia. "24th Conference of IUSTI Europe Regional Director's Report, Latin America" (PDF). International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  14. ↑ "Report from the Latin-America Regional Director" (PDF). International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections. October 2012. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  15. ↑ "Advisory Groups". Lancet Countdown. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  16. ↑ Patricia J. García University of Washington.
  17. ↑ Global Advisory Board WomenLift Health.
  18. ↑ CEPI Board membership updates Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), press release of March 30, 2021.
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