María Elena Díaz Sánchez, PhD
Anthropologist with a doctorate in health sciences and post-graduate diplomas in sociocultural anthropology and information management. Dr Díaz is senior researcher and head of the Nutritional Anthropology Laboratory at the Nutrition and Food Hygiene Institute (INHA), Havana, and full professor at the Medical University of Havana. Her current work includes research on nutritional status, growth and development, body composition, somatotype, menopause, aging, chronic disease risk factors, obesity, eating disorders in dancers, and anthropometric reference values for the Cuban population.
María Guadalupe Guzmán, MD, PhD, DrSc
Virologist. Head of the virology department, full professor, and distinguished scholar and researcher at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), Havana. Dr Guzmán directs the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for the Study of Dengue and its Vector at IPK, and coordinates the PAHO regional reference laboratory network for dengue, RELDA. She sits on the Foundation Council of the Global Forum for Health Research, the Scientific Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the Tropical Disease Research and Training Program (TDR/WHO) and PAHO’s working group on dengue. Her research has contributed to understanding the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment, and epidemiology of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).
Manuel Hernández-Triana, MD, PhD
Biochemist. Senior researcher and full professor of biochemistry at the Medical University of Havana. Dr Hernández heads the biochemistry and physiology department, the protein metabolism laboratory, and the scientific commission at the Nutrition and Food Hygiene Institute (INHA), Havana. His recent research focuses on dietary protein quality, energy recommendations and isotopic methods for measuring body composition, energy expenditure, and Helicobacter pylori infection.
Gustavo Kourí, MD, PhD, DrSc
Microbiologist. General director of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), Havana, vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences and distinguished professor at the Medical University of Havana. Dr Kourí chaired the PAHO Expert Group that produced the Guidelines for the Control of Dengue and DHF in the Americas, and he is currently a member of the WHO Program for Neglected Tropical Diseases Expert Group. He is president of the Latin American Society of Microbiology, and a member of the leadership council of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
Raúl Pérez González, MD, MPH
Epidemiologist and public health administrator. Dr Pérez is associate researcher and professor at the Medical University of Havana. A former vice minister of public health, he currently directs the Nutrition and Food Hygiene Institute (INHA), Havana. Dr Pérez is writing a book on Cuban epidemiology and conducting research on maternal mortality and on nutritional counseling in primary care.
Carmen Porrata Maury, MD, PhD
Physiologist. Senior researcher at the Finlay Institute in Havana and technical director of a project evaluating nutritional safety and therapeutic effects of macrobiotic diets on chronic diseases. Dr Porrata was a founder of the Nutrition and Food Hygiene Institute (INHA), Havana, where she headed the Energy Metabolism Laboratory and served as deputy director for teaching and research for six years. She has done extensive work on energy metabolism, obesity, nutritional epidemiology, nutritional assessment, diet and chronic diseases.
