Rossana López León (born March 6, 1969) is a Puerto Rican politician and public servant from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). López was elected to the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...

in 2012. Before that, she served as Director of the Office of Affairs of the Elderly.

Early years and studies

Rossana López León was born in San Juan on March 6, 1969, to Norberto López and Carmen León. She is the fourth of five children. López grew up in

Cayey Cayey (), officially Cayey de Muesas, is a mountain town and municipality in central Puerto Rico located on the Sierra de Cayey within the Central Mountain range, north of Salinas and Guayama; south of Cidra and Caguas; east of Aibonito and Sal ...

. She served as class president during her junior high and high school years. She was also part of the honor roll during high school. Before entering college, López did

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

work in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. López received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from the

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey The University of Puerto Rico in Cayey (UPR-Cayey) is a public university in Cayey, Puerto Rico. It is part of the University of Puerto Rico System. It was initially founded as a regional school in 1967 and became a college in 1969. It was awar ...

. During her time in college, she founded the Volunteer Corps of the Mennonite Hospital of Cayey, where they developed an educational video about the elderly population in Puerto Rico. She was also part of an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but d ...

in the United States. Because of her work, she earned the Governor's Medal offered by the Office for Youth Affairs. After that, López completed her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Gerontology at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

Professional career and public service

After graduating, López became part of the faculty of the

University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus The University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus — Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Ciencias Médicas (UPR-RCM) in Spanish— is a public health sciences-oriented university in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is part of the Univ ...

. She then became the Executive Director of the Governor's Office for the Elderly Affairs, the first Elderly People's Solicitor, and the first representative from that field in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Political career

López ran for a seat in the

under the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). After winning a spot on the 2012 primaries, López was elected on the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. During her campaign in the

2020 San Juan, Puerto Rico mayoral election San Juan, Puerto Rico, held an election for Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, mayor on November 3, 2020. Among other elections, it was held concurrently with the 2020 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election. It saw the election of New Progressive Part ...

, which she lost, her campaign platform included support for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

communities of Puerto Rico. She also pledged to form commissions to support the community from

who have made Puerto Rico their home.

References

External links

* Living people Popular Democratic Party members of the Senate of Puerto Rico 1969 births 21st-century Puerto Rican women politicians University of Puerto Rico alumni University of Puerto Rico faculty American women academics {{PuertoRico-bio-stub

Early years and studies

Professional career and public service

Political career

See also

References

External links