User:Huiki Leader/sandbox

Angela Restrepo Moreno
Angela Restrepo Moreno (1931-2022 ) was a Colombian Microbiologist with an extensive career as an investigator, scientist, and professor, who based her studies in microbiology with an emphasis on fungal diseases, the diagnosis of such and their treatment. She received several awards and recognitions through her profession, becoming a member of important institutions such as the American Society for Microbiology, the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM), the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM), and the Colombian Association of Internal Medicine (ACMI).

Early life and Education
Restrepo was born in Medellin, Colombia the 28th of October 1931. Her early school years were completed in the school La Presentación, between 1942 and 1950. She started her professional studies in the Bacteriology School Colegio Mayor de Antioquia, where she received a degree in Medical Technology in 1955, becoming a pioneer in her career, when it was unusual for women to achieve a professional academic level. Between 1958 and 1960 she relocated to the United States, where she obtained an MA degree in Science from the University of New Orleans. Later, in 1965 she obtained a Doctoral degree with the Thesis “Biochemical and skin-reactive properties of fractions prepared from strains of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis”.

Career
In 1955 before relocating to the United States, Restrepo worked as a medical technologist and internship mentor at the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology from the Medical School in the University of Antioquia. Later, in 1958, while studying her master’s degree at Tulane University, she evaluated the antigenic variation among Nocardia strains, a group of bacteria considered back then as fungal, and other aerobic actinomycetes. When she returned to Colombia in 1960, she established the Mycology Laboratory in the University of Antioquia, and a year later she decided to continue her doctoral studies in the United States. While she was undertaking her doctorate, Restrepo studied the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis species, responsible for an endemic disease in South and Central America, known as Paracoccidioidomycosis. Until that moment it was only known that the fungus caused reactions on the skin of patients infected with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, but the chemical nature of the causing agent was still uncertain, as was the method to establish it (ref thesis). In her PhD thesis, Restrepo determines, amongst other findings, the most effective methodology to obtain the causing agents of the skin reactions in the fungus Paracoccidioides. In 1965, she returned to the mycology laboratory in the University of Antioquia, where she pioneered the development of serological tests to diagnose diseases caused by fungus in South America. Restrepo and her research team in Colombia, developed techniques to maintain the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis species in a synthetic medium, and these allowed them to study its biology in depth. This is how Restrepo launches her laboratory as a national benchmark for the diagnosis of fungal diseases. Later, by the beginning of the 1970s, she initiated the Corporation for Biological Research (CIB in Spanish) and worked as the Research Director from 1978 up to her retirement in 2015. In the CIB, her scientist career blooms, and Restrepo becomes a pioneer in the use of molecular genetic techniques to study the diversity of endemic fungal pathogens in South and Central America. Restrepo and her team prove that the breed Paracoccidioides is composed of at least five different fungal species, all of which possess unique morphological and clinical characteristics. These discoveries led to the development of molecular techniques for the diagnosis of Paracoccidioidomycosis in Latin America. After the development of more accurate detection methods, the incidence and prevalence numbers from different mycosis in the region are established, and with them the study of treatments and prevention strategies for the countryside communities, affected more often from this disease.

Legacy
She founded the Corporation for Biological Investigation (CIB) in 1970, known today as a prestigious investigation centre reaching international recognition. She was the only female member to be part of the committee of wise men called "La Comisión de los Sabios", in Colombia, during the presidential term of Cesar Gaviria in 1994 and 1995. It was a document that served as a guideline on how to approach the scientific studies in Colombia, which resulted in the introduction of several doctorate programs (ref thesis). During her career, Restrepo established serological tests for the diagnosis and treatment of various mycosis, with a particular emphasis in those diseases caused by the fungus Paracoccidioides. She is considered a leader in scientific development in Colombia and the world. She was an advisor for approximately 300 students throughout South America. In 2007 she received the Scopus Researcher Award as the scientist with the greatest number of research publications and citations. Restrepo made significant contributions to the development of education and investigation policies in Colombia. In her honour, the academic institution Restrepo Moreno was established in 2007, located in a place known as San Antonio de Prado, in her home country Medellin, Colombia. She collaborated with national and international institutions, among the following and worth mentioning the National Health Institute (INS) and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia, Stanford University, London University and São Paulo Federal University. Restrepo published more than 300 scientific reports and more than 40 chapters in books, plus she was given numerous awards and distinctions in diverse topics. She received three Doctorates ``Honoris Causa" from the Pontifical Bolivarian University (UPB), the University of Antioquia (UdeA)and The Colombian National University (UNAL).

Personal Life
She was born in Medellin the 28th of October of 1931. Her parents were known as Tulia Moreno Correa, who worked as a secretary, and her father was Gabriel Restrepo, the founder of a cereal manufacturer Coro in Medellín. Her major inspirations to study microorganisms were: First, her grandfather Julio Restrepo Arango, a doctor, and the fact that his practice was in his own house, and she was in close contact with a microscope and plenty of chemical reactors. And second, the book: "Microbe Hunters" by Paul de Kruif. "The Doctor" as many used to call her, passed away in Medellin the 3rd of February of 2022.

Honours and Awards

 * 1996-Honorary Doctorate, University of Antioquia.
 * 2000 - Honorary member, Colegio Nacional de Bacteriólogos (Bacteriologist National School, Colombia)
 * 2004 - The highest distinction as Scientific Director of the Corporation for Biological Research.
 * 2007 - Honorary Doctorate, The National University of Colombia (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, UNAL)
 * 2008 - Gold Medal from the department of Antioquia, Government of Antioquia.
 * 2008 - Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America (MSA).
 * 2008 - Recognition as a Founder Member of the Colombian Association of Infectious Diseases.
 * 2008 - Shield of Antioquia, Government of the Department of Antioquia
 * 2009 - Distinction as a Founder of the Tropical Medicine Society, The Colombian Institute of Tropical Medicine (ICMT)
 * 2010 -Decoration of Officer Grade of the National Order of Merit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Colombia
 * 2010 - Member of the Real Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain
 * 2013 - Honorary Member of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain
 * 2014 - Life and Work Grand Prize to Emeritus Researchers of Colombia, Colciencias.