Semma Julissa (Julissa) Villanueva Barahona (born 12 May 1972) is a Honduran public servant, who is the Director of the Honduras Public Prosecutor's Office Forensic Medicine Department.

Education

Julissa Villanueva was born in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

in 1972. She studied medicine after seeing her father suffering from tetanus, and is now a doctor who specialises in

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

. She chose to specialise in pathology when she heard about the shortage of skilled forensic scientists in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Career

Villanueva began working as a forensic pathologist in 2002. She was appointed Director of Forensic Science in the

Public Prosecutor's Office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft. This kind of office als ...

in 2013. In 2015 she launched the Journal of Forensic Sciences of Honduras. Villanueva works to protect women and children from violent crimes in Honduras. Working with Spain, Villanueva is developing a program called DNA Prokids. She has encouraged the Public Prosecutor's Office to give accredited training to forensic scientists. Villanueva has driven for more Villanueva worked with the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

to use DNA to identify migrant bodies. She introduced a computerised database to store information in the morgue. Villanueva created the first humanitarian cemetery in Honduras, which allows unclaimed or unidentified corpses to be exhumed and used as evidence in clinical trials, inspired by the military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. She developed a Nationwide Human Identification Registry to handle the unsolved murders across the country. She introduced Gesell chambers, to allow victims of sexual harassment or abuse to provide testimony in court without revealing their identity. In 2018 she received the

International Women of Courage Award The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

from the

. She was awarded the honour by

Melania Trump Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villanueva, Julissa 1972 births Living people People from Tegucigalpa Honduran pathologists Women forensic scientists Forensic scientists 21st-century women scientists Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award