I am a bacteriologist from the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) with a master's degree in public health from the University of Washington (Seattle, USA). I have 26 years of experience in health services and applied research in public health with an emphasis on qualitative methods. For six years, I worked as a technical advisor on projects related to improving health services for people with HIV and on operational research with the organization Health Alliance International in Mozambique. My areas of interest are: intercultural health, maternal and child health, collaborative research, access to services, and participatory methodologies.