Claudia Gonzaga-Jauregui, PhD, Principal Investigator at International Laboratory for Human Genome Research, LIIGH, UNAM. Founder Red Mexicana de Enfermedades Raras (ReMexER), Founding Member and President ERCAL, now CEPCAL, recently had the honor of being recognized for her work in genetics & genomics of human diseases with the “Matilde Montoya Award for Women in Biological Sciences and Medicine” awarded by the Ministries of Health and Science and Education in Mexico. Dr. Matilde Montoya Lafragua was the first woman in Mexico to graduate with a Medical Degree from University in 1887 after struggling and fighting for her right to continue studying and becoming a medical doctor, being rejected by her peers for being a woman aspiring to become a doctor and do a “man’s job” and ultimately being supported by the President of Mexico at the time to obtain her degree, leading to changes in the rules and regulations of the University and educational system in Mexico that after that allowed women to pursue higher education.
“This award is particularly meaningful because despite great progress made by Dr. Matilde Montoya and many great women in Science throughout history, women still face inequity in pursuing professional careers and in science, while juggling motherhood and family caring responsibilities,” Dr. Gonzaga-Jauregui said. “I am grateful for this honor & motivated to continue pushing towards an equitable implementation of genomics to improve the prompt and accurate diagnosis of rare diseases for patients in Mexico and Latin America.”
Describing her work, Dr. Gonzaga- Jauregui said, “I am a geneticist/genomicist dedicated to the investigation of human pathogenic and polymorphic genomic variation, from simple nucleotide variants to large copy-number and structural variation, that contribute to human traits and disease, and produce phenotypic variation. I focus on the investigation of rare disorders and Mendelian phenotypes segregating in families through the application of genomic technologies for novel gene discovery, diagnostics, and therapeutic development.”