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Thanks to the support of professors from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, ESPOL University, and Texas State University, we created a hands-on workshop program for students from both the coastal and highland regions of Ecuador.

Through this program, students learned how to extract DNA from swab samples and run qPCR assays to detect specific pathogens. I had the opportunity to co-direct this initiative alongside my PhD advisor, with invaluable support from my colleagues.

We ran this program for two consecutive years, in 2022 and 2023, reaching students who otherwise would have had little exposure to molecular biology and disease ecology.

Through targeted fundraising efforts, I secured support for two scholarships that enabled international students to complete an academic immersion program at Texas State University. The program integrated genetic laboratory training, quantitative analysis, and R programming, and concluded with a formal research presentation to the Texas State research community.

This was one of the most challenging initiatives I undertook. I developed the program during the final year of my PhD, while balancing research and dissertation work. By trusting the process and reaching out to my academic and professional network, the effort ultimately paid off. Most importantly, the students left the program highly motivated, confident, and excited to continue their scientific training.