User:Cazul03/Henriette Raventós Vorst

Henriette (Jetty) Raventós Vorst (San José, June 22, 1962) is a Costa Rican scientist that specializes in the genetic study of the molecular base of diseases, with an emphasis on genetic neuropsychiatry. She is a professor and a researcher at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), vice president of the National Academy of Science (Academia Nacional de las Ciencias) in her country  and is also a member on the board of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG)

Education
Raventós studied her Bachelor's Degree in Medicine at the University of Costa Rica. Subsequently, she has a Master's degree in Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry at the same university. Also, she has a postdoc in Human Genetics at UC Berkeley in the United States and a PhD in cultural studies.

== Research and teaching == Henriette Raventós is a professor and researcher at the University of Costa Rica, in the field of human genetics and has over 100 publications. She works with the School of Biology and the Research Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology, where she was vice principal and principal of the Psychiatric Genetics Program.

Her work has stood out internationally. In 2018 she was voted a member of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) out of over 600 candidates. This is how she became the first representative from a middle and low-income country and the first person in Latin America in that position.

Mental Health
Raventós commitment to mental health surpasses research. She advocates for the improvement of the matter in her country. She participated in the development and validation of the 2012-2021 Mental Health Policy for Costa Rica. She continues advising on the subject, and has collaborated in the organization of national meetings on the mental health policy as well as events on suicide prevention which are open to the general public. Her commitment comes from personal experience: "'How I got into the genetic study behind mental health is a whole thing, I think that life itself lead me to study this. I came to study mental disorders because of the familiarity I have with the subject. My dad committed suicide when I was 11 years old. He suffered from bipolar disorder, I try to tell his story to start the topic and eliminate any taboos and stigmas around it. All the history behind his ailment and part of the thing that lead me to study the genetic study behind mental illnesses was recorded in an episode of Radio Ambulante called el área gris (the grey area). Due to this, the topic of mental health has marked me as a person and marked my interest and career. Beyond being a researcher, I am a suicide survivor and part of the community that my lab researches."

Women in Science
Jetty has worked towards the inclusion of more girls and women in science. She is an active participant in public discussions about the topic and has brought conferences about it. She also participated in the creation of the National Policy for the equality of women and men in the formation, employment, and enjoyment of the products of Science, Technology, Telecommunications and Innovation 2018-2027 (Política Nacional para la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres en la formación, el empleo y el disfrute de los productos de la Ciencia, Tecnología, las Telecomunicaciones y la Innovación 2018-2027).

Thanks to her work she has been recognized as part of the female representatives of science in her country.

Particularly, her portrait is part of the coloring book Mujeres brillantes en la ciencia tica.

The Scientific Relations Between Countries
Raventós advocates for higher visibility of the work done by middle and low-income countries in science. She criticizes the extractivism relations that occur between high-income countries. "The idea that low and middle-income countries participate like we do, as equals in equal conditions guarantees the protection of genetic resources so that in the end it is the country that benefits and develops its scientific capacity."She worked on creating international spaces about this topic, like the Network for Studying Psychological Resilience in Low and Middle-Income Countries (NESP).