Sandra did her studies at the Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, France, receiving her Bachelor in Biology-Biochemistry in 2001, her Master (Ecole Normale Supérieure d’Ulm, Pasteur Institute) and her Ph.D. on Microbiology specialty Basic Virology in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Her doctoral thesis focused on the cellular cofactors for HIV morphogenesis and budding at the Institut Cochin with Dr. Clarisse Berlioz-Torrent. She did her post-doctoral training on NK cell responses to viruses (mainly HIV and HCMV) at the University of California San Francisco, USA, with Dr. Lewis Lanier. She has worked at the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama, as a Senior Health Researcher, since 2012. She created the flow cytometry core there, participates in molecular epidemiology studies on arboviruses and emergent viruses and leads projects on viral immunology. She was the Head of the Department of Research in Virology and Biotechnology from January 2020 to January 2025, and participated in the national response for the COVID19 pandemic. She has been giving graduate classes at the Universidad de Panama since 2018. Her research has resulted in one patent and more than 50 scientific publications (ORCID: 0000-0002-1106-8479). She obtained several awards as the Gorgas Memorial Award (ASTMH, 2013) and the UNESCO-L'OREAL International Fellowship for Young Women in Science in 2014 to work on arboviruses (Dengue and Madariaga equine encephalitis virus) at the University of Texas Medical Branch, USA (2015-2017) under the supervision of Dr. Nikolaos Vasilakis, Dr. Scott Weaver and Dr. Robert Tesh. She was selected as a member of the National Research System (SNI, SENACYT in Panama) in 2014, of the Global Young Academy (GYA) in 2018 (alumna since 2023), of the International Women Forum (IWF) leadership program in 2022 and the HiddenNoMore Women in Science International visitor leadership program (IVLP) from the US Department of State, the same year. She was part of the Pathogen Bulletin working group on Biosafety and Biosecurity in Virology research (2022-2024), the WHO R&D Blueprint Togaviridae working group (2023-2024), the panel of experts from the International Science Council (ISC) for the Bioweapons convention (2024-2025). She is now part of the WHO and CEPI Flavivirus Collaborative Open research Consortium (CORC), and she is an ISC regional focal point for Latin America and the Caribbean (ISC-RFP LAC) in the Capacity Building and Events committee. As an active member of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and the American Committee on Arthropod-borne Viruses (ACAV), she was elected as part of the ACAV executive committee as Councilor (2024-2027) and was selected to be part of the first cohort of the ASTMH Mid-career leadership program (2024-2025).

Title Of Talk : Study of the immune responses to emergent arboviruses in Panama for development of new medical countermeasures.