IWS Manitoba Leaders (City and Senior leaders)
Silvia Leon Mantilla - City Leader
I am a physician and a data scientist. Born and raised in Colombia, I graduated from Medical School and worked as a physician in the Emergency Department before emigrating to Canada. In Canada, I completed a graduate diploma in Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University and received my MSc in Community Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba. My area of research is pharmacoepidemiology. I use provincial administrative health databases to examine health outcomes in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. During my professional development in Canada, I realized there is not much information for physicians who want to pursue a career in research. With IWS, I aim to mentor and motivate immigrant physicians to consider a career as physician-scientists. I have mentored people in Spanish, English, and French.
Sandra Gonzalez Diaz - City Leader
I am a Colombian researcher currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba. Since the beginning of my career as a researcher I was quite passionate about immunology and infectious diseases, thus, I pursued a master and PhD degrees in Basic and Biomedical Sciences focused on Immunology in Colombia at Universidad de Antioquia. I moved to Canada as part of an academic exchange during my PhD, an enriching experience that allowed me to meet many strong, empowered, and inspiring women in science, and finally became part of this amazing and supportive group of IWS. I am currently developing my scientific career to build a research niche mainly focused on the field of women’s reproductive health, including the diverse spectrum of factors that can alter the regulated balance at the female reproductive mucosa leading to disease. Although my work has been mainly focused on basic and biological research, I also have experience in clinical research. I considered myself highly motivated and enthusiastic, and with a strong background in experimental designing, and scientific writing. The aim of my work is to translate my findings into potential strategies that promote reproductive health and generate applicable policies that improve women’s health care, thus advancing the health and wellness of women.