Dionicia Gamboa

Dionicia Gamboa is a Peruvian parasitologist and associate professor at Institute of Tropical Medicine Alexander von Humboldt, Cayetano Heredia University.[1] Her research focusses on Plasmodium vivax, a major malaria parasite species in South America (as well as South-East Asia).[2]

Early life and education

Gamboa grew up in Chiclayo.[3] Neither of Gamboa's parents had pursued as much education, with her father having "barely been able to finish primary school" and her mum teaching at primary and secondary school level.[4] Gamboa wanted to go to university locally however terrorism in the area forced her to pursure education in Lima.[4] Gamboa grew up wanting to be a doctor or a nurse, initially endeavouring to go to medical school, however her first application was rejected.[4] While studying to re-apply, Gamboa found her true passion for research, and eventually did her bachelors in biology and masters in biochemistry at Cayetano Heredia University.[1] Gamboa moved to The Netherlands for her PhD on Leishmania at Maastricht University.[4][5]

Research

She built up the malaria group at the Institute of Tropical Medicine to a team of around 50 people conducting lab-based studies locally in Lima and field-work around Iquitos.[4][5]

Gamboa and her group work with Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, WHO, and the Peruvian Ministry of Health, to track mosquito breeding and malaria transmission in the Amazon.[6] 96% of the malaria burden for Peru is found in the rainforest-laden Department of Loreto, where the most abundant vector is Anopheles darlingi mosquitoes.[6] Her research team used aerial drones to construct maps of where large bodies of stagnant water can be found across the rural region, which provide fertile habitats for developing mosquitoes.[6][7]

Gamboa was awarded an Elsevier Foundation Award in 2013 for her work as a young woman scientist on her continent.[5][8][9] However she recently commented on the disappointment that her country was no longer entitled to discounted access to the Elsevier journals due to recent economic growth.[10] In 2016 Gamboa was given the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards by L'Oréal Peru, UNESCO and The National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica), worth 45,000 Peruvian sols.[11][12][13] Gamboa is a project lead at the Amazonian Center of Excellence in Malaria Research established by the NIH and lead by Joseph Vinetz.[14]

References
  1. Gamboa, Dionicia (2015-03-06). "Women in science: A perspective from Peru". Research in progress blog. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  2. "Calor en la Amazonía". nmas1.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  3. Perú, Redacción El Comercio (2017-02-16). "La ciencia seduce cada vez más a las peruanas [Interactivo]". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  4. "Young Women Scientists - A bright future for the Americas: Discover why and how these young women decided to become scientists" (PDF). IANAS. Retrieved 20 Dec 2019.
  5. PERÚ, Empresa Peruana de Servicios Editoriales S. A. EDITORA. "Investigadora peruana obtiene premio mundial para mujeres jóvenes científicas". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  6. "Tackling malaria hotspots in the Amazon jungle". www.who.int. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  7. Carrasco-Escobar, Gabriel; Manrique, Edgar; Ruiz-Cabrejos, Jorge; Saavedra, Marlon; Alava, Freddy; Bickersmith, Sara; Prussing, Catharine; Vinetz, Joseph M.; Conn, Jan E.; Moreno, Marta; Gamboa, Dionicia (2019-01-17). "High-accuracy detection of malaria vector larval habitats using drone-based multispectral imagery". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 13 (1): e0007105. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007105. ISSN 1935-2735. PMC 6353212. PMID 30653491.
  8. Elsevier. "Awards recognize women scientists in developing countries". Elsevier Connect. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  9. admin. "INVESTIGADORA DE UPCH, DIONICIA GAMBOA, OBTIENE EL PREMIO A JÓVENES CIENTÍFICAS OTORGADO POR LA FUNDACIÓN ELSEVIER – Diario Médico Perú" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  10. Schiermeier, Quirin; Mega, Emiliano Rodríguez (2017-01-05). "Scientists in Germany, Peru and Taiwan to lose access to Elsevier journals". Nature News. 541 (7635): 13. Bibcode:2017Natur.541...13S. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.21223. PMID 28054621.
  11. "Congratulation to Ms. Dionicia Gamboa Ph.D. - "For Women in Science" award". Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Retrieved 20 Dec 2019.
  12. "Investigadoras peruanas reciben premio "Por las Mujeres en la Ciencia" otorgado por LOREAL, UNESCO y CONCYTEC". portal.concytec.gob.pe. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  13. Peru21, Redacción (2016-03-18). "Dos investigadoras peruanas fueron reconocidas con premio 'Por Las Mujeres en la Ciencia' por aportes al sector salud". Peru21 (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  14. "Amazonian ICEMR | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases". www.niaid.nih.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
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