Marta Zapata-Tarrés was born in Chile, eventually moving to Mexico City for political reasons, where she has lived all her life. A pediatric oncologist with a PhD in clinical research, she attended the French Lycée in Mexico City for all her education and has worked in public institutions (National Institute of Pediatrics and Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez in Mexico City), being responsible for the central nervous system and leukemia clinics principally. Since 2020, she has been the Head of the Research Coordination at the Social Security Mexican Institute Foundation. She was also chief of residents at the National Institute of Pediatrics, president of the Mexican Group of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, and National Researcher level 2 since 2020.
Mexico is a very variable country in terms of geography, economics, and access to different services. Being a healthcare worker gives the opportunity to observe and be directly related to patients and their families — testifying of their culture, habits and learning their needs.
Developing skills and knowledge with a global vision can be the action that most countries need to make the change that for years has not been possible.
Her interests have been oriented to translational medicine, but they have more recently broadened to the description and analysis of disparities of results in pediatric oncology and diagnosis delay.
Zapata-Tarrés’ became interested in the Master’s in Global Child Health program to learn research methods in a global context, as well as learn more on leadership, health system innovation, economics, and politics. Currently, safety and quality of patient’s care is well known, and the challenge lies in the implementation of effective actions to reduce disparities and improve integral attention in healthcare. Learning at St. Jude, a center of healthcare excellence with an ethical, research, and human view, is a privilege.
Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico
Education:
MD, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology - South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, Egypt (2019)
Clinical Fellowship of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant - from Seattle Children’s Hospital (2017)
MSc, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology - South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt (2012)
Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (M.B.B.ch) - Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt (2006)
Publications:
Robles-Castro J, Niembro-Zúñiga A, Ortiz-Azpilcueta M, Betanzos-Cabrera Y, Arreguín-González F, Barrera-Villegas G, Ortiz-Morales D, Arroyo-Acosta JB, Zapata-Tarrés M. Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas: First registry effort in Mexico. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2023 Jun 5: e30431. doi: 10.1002/pbc.30431. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37277314.
Zapata-Tarrés M, Balandrán JC, Rivera-Luna R, Pelayo R. Childhood Acute Leukemias in Developing Nations: Successes and Challenges. Curr Oncol Rep 2021 Mar 23;23(5):56. doi: 10.1007/s11912-021-01043-9. PMID: 33755790.
Zapata-Tarrés M, González-Domínguez E, Doubova SV, Menendez-Auld N, Cruz-Medina CS, Gonzalez-Ramella RO, Vega-Vega L, Guevara-Espejel C, Juárez-Villegas L, Pérez-Cuevas R. Patient and health service factors associated with delays in cancer treatment for children without social security in Mexico. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2020 Sep;67(9): e28331. doi: 10.1002/pbc.28331. Epub 2020 Jul 15. PMID: 32667140.