Ana Palacio, MD, MPH

 

While in her residency, Dr. Ana Palacio saw the need for a research center at the University of Miami.  “The HSRC existed in my mind before it every actually existed,” says Dr. Palacio, “I thought, imagine if we could do this and now it’s wonderful to see how the dreams of many different people have come together.”

Dr. Palacio is an investigator for the HSRC and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.  She is also a staff physician at the Miami Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. 

Helping to build a research center from scratch gave Dr. Palacio the chance to break the mold and tackle barriers other facilities may take years to discover.   With practicing physicians like Dr. Palacio on staff, the HSRC has first hand knowledge of the needs of patients.  The first key role, according to Dr. Palacio, is to keep the research grounded towards building upon clinical and academic knowledge. While research on metabolic syndrome will be a major focus for Dr. Palacio, she is most proud of how the team at the HSRC has come together. 

Dr. Palacio received her M.D. from the Universidad Catolica Santiago de Guayaquil in Ecuador.  She has a Master in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and completed her residency at the University of Miami, Department of Medicine.

Dr. Palacio is married to fellow physician and researcher, Dr. Leonardo Tamariz.  When not chasing after one the couple’s three children, Dr. Palacio helps her father, Ecuador’s President Alfredo Palacio, with health reform for the country.