Rebeca Caires Mugarra, PhD

Rebeca Caires Mugarra, Ph.D., is a clinical research associate I, clinical research operations for the Department of Global Pediatric Medicine.

Rebeca was born and raised in Venezuela, where she obtained her degree in biology and chemistry at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. She moved to Spain to earn a Ph.D. in neurosciences at the Instituto de Neurosciencias de Alicante, where she studied how viscoelastic substances modulate ion channels to reduce chronic pain.

For her postdoctoral studies, Rebeca joined the laboratory of Dr. Julio Cordero-Morales in the Department of Physiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. There, she focused on the study of omega-3 fatty acid-enriched diets and their health benefits on hypertension and proprioceptive sensory disorders.

Throughout her career, Rebeca has been passionate about contributing to a better understanding of several human diseases, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure. After many successful years in basic research, she wanted her work to have a more immediate impact on the health of patients.

For this reason, Rebeca decided to join St. Jude Global, where she can contribute to making a positive impact on the accessibility and improvement of the quality of care for children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries.