Entrevistas
Our deputy director and researcher Dr. Catterina Ferreccio was recognized with the Abdón Cifuentes Award
- julio 13, 2023
- Publicado por: ACCDIS
- Categoría: News Noticia destacada
Ten years ago, the Abdón Cifuentes Award was presented to professors who, as part of their academic career, have achieved a positive and direct impact on society. This year, the award was given to Catterina Ferreccio, full professor of Medicine UC and director of the Doctorate in Epidemiology.
Her vocation of service and the countless contributions she has made to decision-making in public health, especially in epidemics and cancer, is what has made Catterina Ferreccio -70 years old, an academic at the UC School of Medicine and current president of the National Pandemic Response Commission of the Ministry of Health- worthy of the Abdón Cifuentes 2023 Award. Within the framework of the public commitment of the Catholic University, this recognition seeks to honor professors who have oriented their careers towards a concrete contribution to society and the common good.
The third woman to receive this award, Catterina Ferreccio always dreamed of becoming a psychiatrist. However, when she finished her medical studies at the University of Chile, she chose to specialize in public health, specifically epidemiology. At that time, Chile was going through two infectious crises: typhoid fever and hepatitis. «Although I was just starting out, I had to appear a lot in the press at that time, explaining how the population had to protect itself so as not to be contaminated by these infections. Special care had to be taken with vegetables and fruits with soil, because they could have depositions due to the way they were cultivated».
«(The Abdón Cifuentes Award) is a tremendous joy. I am always attentive to what happens in the public sphere. Suddenly I shut myself away to write, but I never spend more than a day disconnected. I always want to know what is going on, how I can help», says the Medicine academic. Credits: Karina Fuenzalida.
That was the beginning of a long career dedicated to infection research, work that has always gone hand in hand with public policy advocacy.
«During all these years I have been very close to decision making,» says Catterina. And she recalls: «When we had typhoid under control, a tremendous outbreak of cholera appeared in Peru, Argentina and Bolivia. We knew that the Mapocho River had no sewage treatment, so it was contaminated and a cholera epidemic could break out at any moment. I remember telling the Minister of Health at the time: ‘We must stop irrigation and the consumption of vegetables now. For years, it was forbidden in Chile to sell raw vegetables in restaurants. Fortunately, the outbreak did not come, and typhoid and hepatitis also ended.»
Arsenic in the water
In the 1990s, Fereccio was again at the center of political decision making, this time on lung cancer issues, as there was a high concentration of this disease in Antofagasta. «It was not my area, but I found the debate fascinating and very important,» he says. It was believed that the cancer was caused by arsenic from Chuquicamata, but a research team led by Ferreccio concluded that the problem was not the air, but the water. The Ministry of Health had pushed through a law to lower the maximum arsenic in the air, and that meant closing Chuquicamata. «We told them, ‘that measure is not going to change any lung cancer, because it’s not because of the air, it’s because of the water.’ Closing the smelter would have been a mistake, Chile would have been impoverished and the cancer would have remained the same,» he says.
These studies on arsenic and cancer broke down paradigms that existed in public health. «It was thought that if you smoked, you would get lung cancer, but if you drank the contents of the cigarette, nothing would happen to you. Our research discovered that the lungs of the mummies in northern Chile were the tissues that had the highest concentration of arsenic. And they only drank it because of the water, because they did not smoke at that time».
«Our research (in the 1990s) discovered that the lungs of the mummies in northern Chile were the tissues that had the highest concentration of arsenic. And they only drank it from the water, because they did not smoke at that time» – Catterina Ferreccio, Abdón Cifuentes 2023 Prize
Ultimately, thanks to Chilean evidence, it was established that arsenic in water causes lung cancer. This led to lowering the maximum permissible regulation from 50 micrograms to 10 micrograms. She then went on to specialize in cancer, specifically cervical cancer. She went for two years to work with the Pan American Health Organization in Peru and El Salvador. «We did a large study demonstrating that the Pap smear was useless, that it left half of the cancers undetected. I had a very strong political role there.
The pandemic
In January 2020, an emergency committee was set up by the government, to which Catterina Ferreccio was summoned by the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich. Credits: Minsal.
In January 2020 she was summoned to an emergency committee for the eventual arrival of Covid-19 in Chile, and in March of that same year, when the outbreak was already imminent, the former Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich, asked her to join a new advisory board. «I was one of the few people who had experience in vaccination, I had done an evaluation of the oral typhoid vaccine in 400,000 schoolchildren. I realized that I had the know-how under my skin and that I couldn’t run away. I was very pleased to feel that I could make such a clear, clear contribution to the discussion. I dedicated myself body and soul».
-What has it been like to dedicate your life to research and public policy?
-It fascinates me. My schoolmates ask me ‘but why do you work so much, when are you going to retire?’ What I try to explain to them is that research, what it has, is that it always presents new questions and new answers, which forces you to be updated. I think that when you are in a more routine task, you feel like retiring earlier. For me, science, research, gives me oxygen. I like everything we learn about galaxies, about how the universe works, about artificial intelligence. But what fascinates me most is humanity. It never ceases to impress me where we are, where we are going. I am fascinated by what humans are discovering and how we are becoming more complex».
«Science, research, gives me oxygen» – Catterina Ferreccio, winner of the Abdón Cifuentes Award 2023.
-Has your career been more difficult because you are a woman?
-Yes, it has been harder to move in the world of science as a woman. There are many issues that I was not aware of until the feminist movement began. I have often found it difficult to understand some of my male peers and we get into arguments, which I think if I had been a man, would have lasted much less time. One has to make twice the effort to make one’s way in science as a principal investigator, for example. It’s easier to do research under a man.»
«I think that we women are acquiring more spaces, we must not back down, we must continue, we must plead, we must denounce. We must vote for women, I am a fan of quotas. And I am sure that if there were more women in power, there would be no war. I believe that the salvation of the planet is that there are more women in power, because they will protect the planet from wherever they are, they will protect the children from wherever they are».
-What does winning the Abdón Cifuentes Award mean to you?
-A tremendous joy. I am always attentive to what happens in the public sphere. Suddenly I shut myself away to write, but I never spend more than a day disconnected. I always want to know what is going on, how I can help. I feel a commitment not only to the country, but also to the planet. Today I am concerned about the environmental issue, that we cannot make agreements to consume less. I am concerned about what the next generations are going to face».