Nubia Muñoz

Nubia Muñoz (born 1940) is a Colombian medical scientist and epidemiologist, whose research has been instrumental in establishing that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the primary cause of cervical cancer which has led to the development of a vaccine that is capable of preventing 70% of all cervical cancers.

Nubia Muñoz
Born1940 (age 80–81)
Santiago de Cali, Colombia
Alma materUniversidad del Valle
Johns Hopkins University
OccupationCancer researcher, Epidemiologist

Biography

Her father, a farm worker in Cali died of diphtheria when she was six years old.[1] She would be the only one of her siblings to go to university when she was accepted into the medical school at Universidad del Valle, specializing in Pathology. After graduating, she completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, USA with an emphasis in pathology and virology. She then earned a Master's Degree in Public Health (Cancer Epidemiology) from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

In 1969, she joined the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) headquarters in Lyon, France, where she researched cancers formed due to pathogens. In the 1980s, she led her own unit at the IARC, where she studied the link between HPV and cervical cancer. In 1995, she was instrumental in the IARC's decision to classify HPVs 16 and 18 as group 1 human carcinogens.[2][3][4]

She retired from the IARC in 2001, but continues to work at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona and the National Cancer Institute in Bogota where she is Emeritus Professor.[5]

Recognition and Awards

Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science (D.Sc.), McGill University[6]

International Agency for Research on Cancer Medal of Honor[7]

Canada Gairdner Global Health Award[8]

Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for Cancer Research[9]

2008 International Epidemiological Association's Richard Doll Prize[10]

2018 Frontiers of Knowledge Award, Development Cooperation category[11][12][13]

Rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2008[14]

References
  1. Pincock, Stephen (November 2009). "Nubia Muñoz: defining the role of HPV in cervical cancer". The Lancet. 374 (9701): 1587. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61938-3. PMID 19897116. S2CID 136676255.
  2. "Nubia Muñoz, la científica que desafió al cáncer" [Nubia Muñoz, the scientist who challenged cancer]. el Espectador (in Spanish). 7 March 2017.
  3. Blasco, Lucía (28 May 2019). "Nubia Muñoz, la colombiana nominada al Nobel que resolvió una de las grandes incógnitas de la medicina (y por qué es criticada por los antivacunas)" [Nubia Muñoz, the Colombian Nobel nominee who solved one of the great unknowns of medicine (and why it is criticized by anti-vaccines)]. BBC News Mundo (in Spanish).
  4. Stadler, Marta Macho (31 August 2018). "Nubia Muñoz y la lucha contra el cáncer de cérvix" [Nubia Muñoz and the fight against cervical cancer]. Mujeres con ciencia (in Spanish).
  5. "Dr Nubia Muñoz – IARC". www.iarc.fr.
  6. "McGill to Award 16 Honorary Degrees". McGill Reporter. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. "Medals of Honour". International Agency for Research on Cancer. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  8. "John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award 2009". Gairdner. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  9. "Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize". Brupbacher Foundation. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  10. "International Epidemiological Association 2017 Richard Doll Prize". International Epidemiological Association. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  11. "Frontiers of Knowledge Laureate Nubia Muñoz". Fundación BBVA. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  12. "Nubia Muñoz wins the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Development Cooperation". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  13. "Nubia Muñoz: "para mí la investigación del cáncer ha sido una pasión"". Nubia Múñoz, la investigadora que busca la cura contra el virus de papiloma humano.
  14. "The Wonderful People of Colombia". The Other Look of Colombia. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
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