FAILSAFE Fungal Antimicrobial Resistance Innovations for Low & Middle Income Countries: Solutions & Access For Everyone
FAILSAFE Fungal Antimicrobial Resistance Innovations for Low & Middle Income Countries: Solutions & Access For Everyone
Professor Beatriz Lucia Gomez Giraldo is a full professor at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia and leads the Translational Microbiology and Emerging Diseases Studies group MICROS. She is a Bacteriologist and Clinical Laboratory Technician at the Colegio Mayor de Antioquia in Colombia. She began her training and career as a researcher in the area of Medical Mycology with the group of Dr. Angela Restrepo in Medellin, Colombia in 1990.
She obtained her PhD in Medical Mycology from King’s College London, University of London, UK and then a Postdoc with the same university (Wellcome Trust funded project for scientists from tropical and developing countries) and a second Postdoc with University College London which included cooperative work with the Aberdeen Fungal Group in Scotland. She worked as Head of the Mycology Diagnostic Development Unit at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA.
Her research interests have been focused on the area of diagnosis and characterization of pathogenic fungi, especially in histoplasmosis, paracoccidioidomycosis and other mycoses caused by opportunistic fungi. She has led and participated in several multicenter studies that have contributed to the development and validation of immunological and molecular methods, especially in immunocompromised patients. Dr. Gomez has actively worked with colleagues in the Americas to create and coordinate activities of the Histoplasmosis Advocacy Group (iHAG), which has focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment and establishing the impact of this mycosis on public health. She is a member of the Council and Vice President since 2018 of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM), which has focused its efforts on educational programs, strengthening international collaboration through working groups and advocating to include mycoses in public health agendas. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, co-edited a book and regularly teaches and organizes courses in the area of medical mycology for undergraduate and graduate students.