Marcela Zubieta

Marcela Zubieta Acuña is a pediatrician. After losing a daughter to a brain tumoor, she co-founded the Nuestros Hijos Foundation to assist children with cancer to improve their quality of life and improve their chances of survival. She redirected her professional life, specializing in Immunosuppressed Infectious Diseases. From this perspective, she founded, together with other professionals, the immunosuppressed branch of the Chilean Society of Infectious Diseases and the Infection subcommittee of the National Program for childhood cancer. 

She has participated in many scientific publications searching for better strategies in the management of infections in cancer patients. As a social entrepreneur, she has been part of the board Childhood Cancer International (CCI) for 9 years. She is currently president of CCI LATAM, a network that unites 45 organizations in 18 countries in Latin America, a group that creates the first network of Survivors, Beacons of Life in the region, work done in alliance with the Latin American Society of Childhood Cancer (SLAOP) and the Latin American branch of the International Society of Childhood Cancer (SIOP). She has participated as author or co-author in publications showing the role of civil society in the world of childhood cancer and in the psychosocial area, she is part of the international network Ashoka, present in more than 95 countries. 

In Chile, her work has been uninterrupted for 33 years hand in hand with the Ministry of Health. She is part of the design of the National Cancer Plan, has been elected Impact Woman, work that stands out for its social and solidarity role, has been recognized by the Medical College of Chile, Santiago Regional, with the award for the best career, among others.