I graduated as internist and pulmonologist at the Central University of Venezuela, doing my thesis in the study of the involvement of skeletal muscles in patients with COPD. Subsequently, I completed post-doctoral studies at the Pulmonary Division in the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard University for three years. My main project was the study of the CC16 protein and its relation in the pathobiology of COPD, however I was involved in different projects that related COPD with different protein and genetic biomarkers. At the moment I am the Vice Director of the Department of COPD of the Latin American Thoracic Society (ALAT) and I am a instructor of pulmonology in the Central University of Venezuela. I am a reviewer of several journals and collaborator in different projects including the study of the diagnosis and treatment of COPD in the primary care consultation (PUMA), the development of the first Latin American guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency and the 2017 update of the Latin American guidelines for the treatment of COPD (LatinEPOC). My future orientation is towards the evaluation of systemic and local biomarkers, pulmonary growth and its relation to the development of COPD in susceptible patients.

My main research interes is COPD and related airway diseases.