Patricia García Funegra

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. Her mother had emigrated from Huánuco.

Education García graduated from medical school at Cayetano Heredia University in 1988, becoming the first in her family to obtain a university degree. In 2011, García completed a PhD at Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH).

Career In 1991, García moved to the US for a clinical residency program at Jackson Memorial Hospital with the University of Miami, and was Chief Medical Resident for 1993–94. She moved to Seattle as a postdoctoral fellow in infectious diseases at the University of Washington. She was encouraged to work here by Dr. King Holmes, who became García’s mentor. 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. 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. She held a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2018; She has also served on WHO committees for topics including reproductive health and human papillomavirus vaccines.

Other activities University of Washington, Member of the External Advisory Board of the Department of Global Health WomenLift Health, Member of the Global Advisory Board Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Member of the Board (–2021)

Awards and honours García became the first Peruvian to be elected to US National Academy of Medicine in 2016.