Board of Directors

President of the Board of Directors: Antonio Ugalde

Dr. Ugalde received a Doctorate from Stanford University, and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Texas-Austin.  He has been a member of the Editorial Board for the Mexico section of the Handbook of Latin American Studies of the US Library of Congress, since 1981.  He has also served as a member of the Editorial Boards for Social Science and Medicine, Cuadernos Médicos-Sociales (Argentina), the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, the Medical Science Monitor (Hong Kong), and the Pacific Sociological Review.  He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of Salud Colectiva (Argentina).

Dr. Ugalde has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the United States Agency for International Development, the American Public Health Association, and the Canadian Institute for International Development and Cooperation in various Asian and Latin American countries.  As a visiting professor, he has given classes and seminars at the University of Pittsburg, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Universidad del País Vasco (Bilbao, Spain), the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia), the Catholic University of El Salvador, the Universidad del Pacífico (Lima, Peru), and the School of Public Health of Andalucia (Granada, Spain).  He is the author and editor of several books, and has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals.

Vice-president of the Board of Directors: Antonio Alfau

Mr. Alfau is a graduate of the University of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Texas. Mr. Alfau has taken part in research studies with the Ministry of Public Health in the Dominican Republic, and worked for more than 15 years at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas-Austin. He is an Instructor in the Department of Modern Languages, Texas State University.

Treasurer of the Board of Directors: Vanessa Johnson

Vanessa Johnson received a B.A. in International Relations and French from the University of Southern California-Los Angeles.  She served for 4 years as Executive Director of the FEMAP Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting public health in Mexico.  She has taken part in several sociological and epidemiological studies in Ciudad Juarez, including a study of violence against women and another on environmental lead.  She was Editor of an internet journal on the local culture and politics in El Paso, Texas.  Ms. Johnson currently lives in New Mexico, U.S.A.

Secretary of the Board of Directors: Rafaela Sierra

Ms. Sierra studied Biology at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and Medical Statistics at the University of Rome. She worked as a researcher and professor at the University of Costa Rica. She was director of the Institute for Health Research (INISA / UCR) and founder and coordinator of the Cancer Research Program of the UCR. She was a co-founder and collaborator a program sponsored by JICA for the early detection of gastric cancer in a high-risk population in Costa Rica, in which the UCR, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and the University of Japan participated. She has conducted several collaborative studies with European universities and New York University.

As professor of Research Methodology and Epidemiology at the University of Costa Rica, she worked with groups that questioned the way in which human clinical trials were carried out in Costa Rica and promoted legislation to protect the human rights of research participants.

Member of the Board of Directors: Albín Chaves, Costa Rica

Dr. Albín Chávez is a physician, specialized in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology (Mario Negri Institute in Italy, Autonomous University of Barcelona). Until 2000 he was a resident and member of the panel of experts in International Health, in the Division of Drug Information of the United States Pharmacopeia.

During the 2003-2004 biennium he chaired the Drug Utilization Study Group (DURG-LA) and in 2004 he chaired the Sub-Committee of Drug Utilization of the Clinical Pharmacology Division of the International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR).

Dr. Chávez has worked as a pharmaceutical consultant in several countries under the sponsorship of PAHO, WHO, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the UN Industrial Development Program. Until 2018 he was a member of the Pharmaceutical Commission of Central America and the Dominican Republic.

He was the head of the Directorate of Pharmacoepidemiology and Coordinator of the Central Committee of Pharmacotherapy of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS). He has been a professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the School of Medicine and of Pharmacoeconomics at the School of Economics of the University of Costa Rica.

He has delivered lectures in multiple congresses in Latin America, Europe and the United States, and his research has been published in prestigious journals.

Until 2006 he was a member of the Group of Experts on Drug Evaluation of the World Health Organization (WHO), and since 2013 he is a member of the Committee of Experts for the incorporation of drugs into the Strategic Fund of the Pan American Health Organization. Health.

Member of the Board of Directors: Duilio Fuentes Delgado

Dr. Fuentes is an internist from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima) and has a Diploma in Research. He was a fellow of the “Collaborative Training Program in Research Ethics in the Americas” of FOGARTY-FLACSO (Buenos Aires, 2006). He also received training at the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products in Spain, obtained a master’s degree in Bioethics (Virtual) from the Borja Institute, Barcelona, and a Master’s degree in Strategic Quality Management and Medical Audit at the University of San Martín de Porres in Lima. Since 2004 he has worked at the National Institute of Health of Peru where he has held various positions: Evaluator and Inspector of the Clinical Trials Area of the OGITT, member of the Development Team of the Peruvian Clinical Trials Regulation (2004-2006), Executive Director of the National Center for Intercultural Health, Advisor to the Headquarters, and President of the Research Ethics Committee. Mr. Delgado is currently works in the area of observational and epidemiological studies at the OGITT and is also a professor of Bioethics and Research in the postgraduate program at Los Andes de Huancayo University and San Martín de Porres University. He is a member of the Latin American Network of Ethics and Medicines (RELEM), of the Bioethics-UNESCO NETWORK, of the Editorial Committee of the Unesco Bioethics Journal and a member of the Research Ethics Committee of the San Borja Children’s National Health Institute. His research focuses on bioethics and clinical trials. He has held the following positions: Research Director of the Complementary Medicine Management of EsSalud, Advisor to the General Directorate of the Lima Sur Integrated Networks Directorate, undergraduate research professor at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, and was a member of the group responsible for preparing the criteria and actions for the evaluation and compliance with the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical specialties established according to national regulations.

Member of the Board of Directors: Corina Bontempo D de Freitas, Brasil

She obtained her medical degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1973), and specialized in pediatrics (1974-75) and in public health (Fiocruz, 1984). She obtained a doctoral degree in health services and program evaluation (Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine of USP (2007), and her doctoral dissertation was on the Brazilian system for the ethical evaluation of clinical research. She worked as a pediatrician and public health specialist at the Federal District State Health Department, and at the Foundation for Teaching and Research in Health Sciences/FEPECS. She coordinated the National Health Council / Ministry of Health, where she acted as executive secretary of the National Research Ethics Commission (1996-2007), and was instrumental in setting up the CEPs – Conep system. She taught postgraduate Bioethics courses at Fiocruz/Brasília in 2006/2007 and has trained members of Research Ethics Committees throughout the country. She has represented Brazil in international bioethics events. She is the editor of Cadernos de Bioética/ MS/ CONEP, a member of the Editorial Board of Revista Bioética do Conselho Federal de Medicina and a contributor to Boletin Fármacos. Contributing author to the book Ética y ensayos clínicos en América Latina, Lugar Editorial and Clinical Trials in Latin America – where ethics and business clash, Ed Springer. She coordinated the Alavancar community volunteer project, which supports children with school difficulties and neurodevelopmental disorders. This program began in 2012 at Escola Classe do Varjão in Brasília, DF, and continued from 2015 to 2021 as an Extension Project at the University of Brasília.

Executive Director: Núria Homedes Beguer

Dr. Homedes studied medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and specialized in internal medicine and preventive medicine at the University of Barcelona, Spain. She received a Doctorate in Public Health from the School of Public Health at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, where she joined the faculty in 1997 and was the founder and Co-Director of the Global Health Program from 2005 until she retired in August 2018. As a physician, she worked with the Spanish National Health Service and coordinated a comprehensive health project for the Department of Health of Catalonia in a rural area of Catalonia called Altebrat, which included 60 cities. She was a researcher at the Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona. She was also the director of the Research Unit at the Ministry of Health of the Dominican Republic. Dr. Homedes has worked as a consultant for WHO, USAID, PAHO, the World Bank and the governments of Colombia, Mexico and Zambia, on issues related to health systems and human resources. She is the Secretary of the Executive Board for the International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB) and has been a member of the editorial board of several international health and ethics journals. Between 1992 and 1997, she joined the World Bank as a Public Health Specialist and worked in Asia (Papua Nueva Guinea), Africa (Mozambique, Chad, Zambia), Latin America (México, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia, Perú, Argentina) and Guyana. In 2015 and 2016 she was Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. She has published six books and more than 100 articles.