As a child, Wendy Gómez García accompanied her mother to bring donations to the oncology area of Dr. Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital, which brought her into direct contact with children who suffered from cancer and taught her to empathize with the mothers caring for their little ones. From that moment on, she dreamed of helping those children so they could play and be healthy and happy. Later, during her university studies, she volunteered at the Children's Hospital and the Oncological Institute, thus beginning her journey in the branches of medicine that would become her areas of focus.
Dr. Gómez-García earned her medical degree magna cum laude in 2004 from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After finishing her medical degree, she worked in Dajabón, a province on the border with Haití, in a primary care clinic, interacting with the people of Haiti from whom she learned customs and culture.
Dr. Gómez-García completed her residency in pediatrics in the same hospital where she had visited as a child and volunteered as a student. Upon completion of residency in 2008, she was selected for a postgraduate fellowship in Pediatric Hemato-Oncology in Guatemala City, an experience that would set in motion the passion and axis of her life. In that setting, she first learned about the global vision of an institution that was going to change her life: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Dr. Gómez-García currently works in Dr. Robert Reid Cabral Children’s Hospital where she is the Oncology Unit coordinator and leads the first Onco-Pediatric Palliative Care program in her country. She also serves as the Pediatric Center Director of the National Cancer Institute Rosa Emilia Sánchez Pérez de Tavares (INCART). Dr. Gómez-García is the main clinical advisor for the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Cancer of the Dominican Republic, which is in the process of being launched and implemented, to improve the early detection and timely treatment of children and adolescents in the Dominican Republic through a comprehensive approach, protocolized care, and strict control of case registration at the national level.
“The Master of Global Child Health will have direct applicability to the aim of continual improvement of attention to child health and to pediatric oncology patients in the Dominican Republic, providing academic and technical support for improvement projects related to childhood cancer as well as the work in progress on the National Plan for Cancer of Boys, Girls and Adolescents in the Dominican Republic (PENCI-RD). I have the vision of continuing to grow professionally and, by acquiring new strategies and knowledge, continuing to enrich the Dominican health system so that children and adolescents are positively impacted. For sure, I will represent my country with dignity in the face of this new challenge.”
Hometown: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Education
MD – Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2004)
Fellowship, Hematology-Oncology – Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Unidad Nacional de Oncología Pediátrica (UNOP), Guatemala (2012)
Publications
Burns JE, Reyes Pérez D, Li Y, et al. Assessment of the impact of inpatient infectious events in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed acute leukemia at Dr. Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital, Dominican Republic. PLoS One. 15(12):e0243795, 2020.
Garcia-Quintero X, Parra-Lara LG, Claros-Hulbert A, et al. Advancing pediatric palliative care in a low-middle income country: an implementation study, a challenging but not impossible task. BMC Palliat Care. 19(1):170, 2020.
Radbruch L, De Lima L, Knaul F, et al. Redefining Palliative Care-A New Consensus-Based Definition. J Pain Symptom Manage. 60(4):754-764, 2020.
Vasquez L, Sampor C, Villanueva G, et al. Early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric cancer care in Latin America. Lancet Oncol. 21(6):753-755, 2020.
Friedrichsdorf S.J., Gómez-García WC. Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment of Pain in Children with Serious Illness. In: Downing J. (eds) Children’s Palliative Care: An International Case-Based Manual. Springer, Cham. 2020.
Spence D, Argentieri MA, Andall-Brereton G, et al. Advancing cancer care and prevention in the Caribbean: a survey of strategies for the region. Lancet Oncol. 20(9):e522-e534, 2019.
Revon-Rivière G, Banavali S, Heississen L, et al. Metronomic Chemotherapy for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Survey of Current Practices and Opinions of Pediatric Oncologists. J Glob Oncol. 5:1-8, 2019.
Peña-Hernandez A, Ortiz R, Garrido C, et al. Outcome of pediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Central America: A report of the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology of Central America (AHOPCA). Pediatr Blood Cancer. 66(5):e27621, 2019.
Peña-Hernandez A, Ortiz R, Garrido C, et al. Treatment Results of a Strategy for the Management of Mature B-Cell Malignancies in Central America. A report of the Cooperative Group AHOPCA. SIOP Award, 2017.
Rosé A, André N, Rozados VR, et al. Highlights from the 1st Latin American meeting on metronomic chemotherapy and drug repositioning in oncology, 27-28 May, 2016, Rosario, Argentina. Ecancermedicalscience. 10:672, 2016.
Gómez-García WC. Pediatric palliative care: Comprehensive support for children. Acta Med Int. 3:165-70, 2016.
Ceppi F, Ortiz R, Antillón F, et al. Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma in Central America: A Report From the Central American Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology (AHOPCA). Pediatr Blood Cancer. 63(1):78-82, 2016.
Gómez-García W, Friedrich P. Primary Non-metastatic Epithelioid Sarcoma of Lumbar Vertebra L3: Pediatric Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature. Journal of Tumors3(2):314-319, 2015.
Mostert S, Lam CG, Njuguna F, et al. Hospital detention practices: statement of a global taskforce. Lancet. 386(9994):649, 2015.
Zaidi A, Johnson LM, Church CL, et al. Management of Concurrent Pregnancy and Acute Lymphoblastic Malignancy in Teenaged Patients: Two Illustrative Cases and Review of the Literature. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 3(4):160-175, 2014.