Josefina Coloma, Executive Director

Dr. Josefina Coloma, a native Ecuadorian, has a BS in Biology from the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador and a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles where her research focused on engineering of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. After postdoctoral work at the School of Medicine at UCLA, she joined the Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley where she is an academic scientist on the topic of dengue virus on several international scientific projects carried out in Nicaragua and in Ecuador.

Since 1993, with Eva Harris,  she has worked transferring scientific capacity to the developing world through the   AMB/ATT program (Applied Molecular Biology/ Appropriate Technology Transfer) that led to the creation of the Sustainable Sciences Institute in 1998.   As an organizer and instructor of over two dozen hands-on laboratory based courses she has transferred skills and scientific knowledge on infectious disease diagnostics, epidemiology, manuscript and grant writing to numerous colleagues and health professionals throughout Latin America.

Josefina has served on the board of Directors of SSI since 2000, working as program director, fundraiser and treasurer. She is SSI’s Executive Director since 2008.

Josefina is the recipient of several awards including Graduate Woman of the Year from the American Association of Academic Women and “Leader Women in Science” Lecture Series Award from the   American Association for the Advancement of Science among others.  Dr. Coloma has served or serves as an advisor on Scientific Development in the Americas to the Organization of American States and the National Science Foundation, the World Health Organization Advisory Committee for Health Research and the Pan American Health Organization. She is the author of numerous scientific publications on immunology, antibody engineering, virology and scientific capacity building.