World Health Day, celebrated on April 7, marked the start of a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health, entitled Healthy Beginnings, Promising Futures. The main objective is to urge governments and the health community to intensify efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers and newborns and to prioritize women’s long-term health and well-being.
In 2020, there was one maternal death every hour in Latin America and the Caribbean, representing a setback of two decades of progress in maternal health indicators in the region.
HOW DO WE CONTRIBUTE AT IMPACT?
One of our main lines of research is focused on diseases exclusive to women that impact pregnancy.
Sebastián Illanes, a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics and principal investigator at IMPACT, is leading several clinical studies on hypercholesterolemia in pregnancy, gestational diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction, and preeclampsia. The latter is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal death.
IMPACT associate researcher Lara Monteiro is investigating endometriosis, a chronic disease that affects 10% of women and girls of reproductive age worldwide and is characterized by the growth of uterine tissue outside the uterus, causing symptoms such as severe pelvic pain, depression, and infertility.
Federico Batiz, an academic at the University of the Andes and IMPACT research associate, is leading a study that seeks to investigate the effects of maternal stress on the neurological development of girls and boys, looking for biomarkers to determine disorders associated with the mother’s mental health.
The goal of all this research is to advance early diagnosis of diseases by searching for biomarkers, to improve diagnoses even before symptoms appear.
“Biomarkers are biological indicators, such as molecules, found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that can be measured to identify physiological processes, diseases, or response to treatment.”
Dolores Busso, a researcher at the University of the Andes and the IMPACT center, is conducting research on spina bifida, a congenital malformation. Her study focuses on the search for biomarkers through the creation of a biobank for the collection of data that will allow the correlation of diet with the incidence of this pathology.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF AI
But that’s not all. IMPACT is also committed to incorporating Artificial Intelligence into early diagnosis by developing software that analyzes patient demographic data for the early detection of gestational diabetes. Claudio Pérez, an academic engineer at the University of Chile and associate researcher at the center, is participating in this cutting-edge research.
HOW IS THE DATA GENERATED?
At IMPACT, we have a Clinical Trials unit, which is responsible for collecting samples from volunteer patients. These samples are essential for the search for biomarkers and for advancing timely diagnoses and new and innovative treatments.
This unit, called CRIO (Clinical Research IMPACT Organization), facilitates the development of advanced clinical research by providing comprehensive and collaborative support to researchers and physicians, ensuring regulatory compliance, efficiency in the execution of studies, and the transfer of knowledge to clinical practice to improve people’s health and accelerate access to affordable, high-quality therapeutic innovations.
IMPACT is much more than a research center. Our goal is to connect science, technology, and clinical practice in an ethical environment of excellence.