Celina Turchi

Celina Maria Turchi Martelli is a Brazilian epidemiologist, graduated by Federal University of Goiás and researcher at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz in Recife. She first associated the link between zika virus and microcephaly in newborn babies during the 2015 disease outbreak in Brazil;[1] she was listed by Nature magazine as one of the 10 most notable people in science in 2016,[2] and by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2017.[3]

Celina Turchi
Born
Celina Maria Turchi Martelli

1952-1953 (64 years old)
Goiás, Brazil
Alma materFederal University of Goias, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases, University of Sao Paulo
Known forResearch of mosquito-borne diseases
Scientific career
FieldsInfectiology
InstitutionsFederal University of Goias, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

Life and career

Turchi was born in the state of Goiás. She did her graduation in medicine at the Federal University of Goiás and her master's degree in infectology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and her doctorate at the University of São Paulo. She became interested in research mosquito-borne diseases in 1990, when dengue fever was spread in Goiânia.[4] She was a professor at the Federal University of Goiás until her retirement.

In 2015 Turchi was called by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to investigate the growth of microcephaly cases in newborn babies at the state of Pernambuco. At Fiocruz's Aggeu Magalhães Institute, in Recife, she directed the Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group (MERG), a task force for defining the malformation causes. Her group found that zika virus incubated in pregnant women would have influence on the foetus' lack of cranial development.[5]

References
  1. Souza, Wayner Vieira de; Araújo, Thalia Velho Barreto de; Albuquerque, Maria de Fátima P. Militão; Braga, Maria Cynthia; Ximenes, Ricardo Arraes de Alencar; Miranda-Filho, Demócrito de Barros; Bezerra, Luciana Caroline Albuquerque; Dimech, George Santiago; Carvalho, Patrícia Ismael de (2016-04-29). "Microcephaly in Pernambuco State, Brazil: epidemiological characteristics and evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of cutoff points for reporting suspected cases". Cadernos de Saúde Pública. 32 (4). doi:10.1590/0102-311X00017216. ISSN 0102-311X.
  2. "Nature's 10". Nature. 540 (7634): 507–515. 2016-12-22. doi:10.1038/540507a. PMID 30905952.
  3. "Celina Turchi: The World's 100 Most Influential People". Time. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  4. "GaúchaZH". gauchazh.clicrbs.com.br (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  5. "Fiocruz researcher is one of Time's Persons of the Year". Fiocruz (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2017-11-03.
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