About Me
I am board certified in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases. I am fluent in Spanish. My clinical interests include severe infections requiring intensive care and gastrointestinal infections. I am committed to diagnosing, treating and preventing infections and conducting vaccine development research to find ways to prevent illness.
As part of the Atrium Health Vaccine Research Program, under the direction of Dr. Christine Turley, I contribute to studies on the social determinants of health and sponsored vaccine trials.
My pediatric research is focused on the epidemiology of hepatitis C among infants exposed to the infection in the maternal womb. My team is engaged in optimizing screening, diagnosis and early treatment of hepatitis C in children.
I am the author and co-author of multiple peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, editorials, books and book chapters. I am the co-inventor of 2 vaccine patents.
I received multiple Top Doctor awards in pediatrics from Buffalo Spree magazine, the Best Teaching award from Universidad de Santander and the Award of Excellence for Promoting Inclusion and Cultural Diversity from the University of Buffalo.
I received my medical degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia and my doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Maryland. I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Biology in Tübingen, Germany, and I completed a residency in pediatrics at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. I completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Outside of work, my interests include kayaking, playing guitar and traveling abroad to provide health literacy interventions to children in underserved geographic areas. I am married and have 2 daughters.