Ana Belén Elgoyhen (born 13 December 1959) is an

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

, professor of

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemi ...

at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

and independent researcher of the

National Scientific and Technical Research Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(Spanish: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CONICET). She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of

hearing (sense) Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is audit ...

. Her work could be useful to treat auditory deficiencies and other hearing pathologies.

Biography

Ana Belén Elgoyhen was born on 13 December 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1984 she graduated in biochemistry from the

. She received her PhD in biochemistry from the same university, under the supervision of Edda Adler de Graschinsky. After being selected for the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences in 1991, Elgoyhen left Argentina to begin her post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of molecular neurobiology of the Institute Salk,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. In 1994, Elgoyhen identified the receptors in the human ear that take part in the processes of modulation of the sounds and making them comprehensible. After her postdoctoral training, Elgoyhen returned to Argentina on 24 September 1994. She was, between 1997 and 2011, International Scholar of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, f ...

and Fellow of

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowships to professionals who have demonstrated exceptional ...

between 2003 and 2004. She won in 2008 the L'Oreal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science, which recognizes outstanding women scientists who have contributed to scientific progress for her contributions in the understanding of the fundamental molecular principles of the hearing. The others 2008 recipients were Lihadh Al-Gazali (United Arab Emirates),

Elizabeth Blackburn Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, (born 26 November 1948) is an Australian-American Nobel laureate who is the former president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Previously she was a biological researcher at the University of California, ...

(United States), V. Narry Kim (South Korea) and

Ada Yonath Ada E. Yonath ( he, עדה יונת, ; born 22 June 1939) is an Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular ...

(Israel). In the 2012, the Argentinian vice-president

Amado Boudou Amado Boudou (; born 19 November 1962) is an Argentine economist and politician who served as the Vice President of Argentina from 2011 to 2015. He previously served as Minister of Economy from 2009 to 2011. In August 2018, following a lengthy ...

and the Argentinian minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Lino Barañao, awarded her the title of 2012 "Researcher of the Argentinian Nation" for her work on the genetics and physiology of the human

ears An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists ...

. Elgoyhen is working as superior researcher at the Institute of Investigations in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology "Dr.

Héctor N. Torres Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein' ...

", as adjunct professor of pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires since 2001, and as

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the gener ...

to the department of

otorhinolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

of the School of Medicine of University Johns Hopkins since 2009.

Prizes and distinctions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elgoyhen, Ana Belen University of Buenos Aires alumni 1959 births People from Buenos Aires Johns Hopkins University faculty Living people L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates 21st-century women scientists TWAS laureates