Fabiola Leon Velarde

Fabiola Leon-Velarde Servetto (June 18, 1956) is a Peruvian physiologist who has devoted her research to the biology and physiology of high altitude adaptation. Born in Lima, Peru the daughter of Dr. Carlos Leon-Velarde Gamarra and Juana Servetto Marti from Uruguay. Under the mentorship of high altitude physiologist Dr. Carlos Monge Cassinelli, she obtained a BSc. in Biology (1979), an MSc (1981) and DSc (1986) in physiology at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Perú. She is currently President (Rector) of Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH). She was previously Vice-President for Research of UPCH and Chairwoman of the Department of Biological and Physiological Sciences at the same University. She has also been Vice-President of the International Society for Mountain Medicine and, during nine years has been doing collaborative research with the Human Respiratory Section of the Laboratory of Physiology of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, where she has been invited as "Fellow" of the "Queen's College". At the moment, she is also Associated Investigator of ARPE/UFR of Medicine of the University of Paris XIII in France.

She has been a consultant in diverse national and international institutions, including the International Center of Research for Development (CIID) of Canada, on the health problems in the Andean Region and of the International Labour Organization (OIT). In the last years she has participated as a Consultant in the Antamina Mining Project and at the Andean Organism of Health. At the present time, she is Review Committee member of the National Council of Science and Technology [CONCYTEC], the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion (SECYT-FONCYT) and the International Foundation for Science (IFS).

Dr. Leon-Velarde has a vast scientific production that has been published in more than 80 abstracts and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals. She is also author of chapters in several books about altitude sickness and related topics particularly in the Andes. She is a member of important scientific societies such as The American Physiological Society and the Academy of Sciences of Latin America.

Dr. Leon-Velarde is a founding member of the judging panel of PODER's Think Tank of the Year Awards that aim to celebrate the good work done by think tanks in the country.

Dr. Leon-Velarde is the mother of one son, Gianpiero Leoncini Leon-Velarde.