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 () 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 the legislative branch of ...

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 San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

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 east of Salinas and north of Guayama; south of Cidra and Caguas; east o ...

. 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 denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...

work in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. López received her

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

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from the

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey The University of Puerto Rico at 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 award ...

. 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 higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

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 a postgraduate 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 prac ...

Gerontology Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, culture, cultural, psychology, psychological, cognitive, and biology, biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Ancient Greek, Greek ('), meaning "o ...

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

Professional career and public service

After graduating, López became part of the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus. 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 the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

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 an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

. During her campaign in the 2020 San Juan, Puerto Rico mayoral election, which she lost, her campaign platform included support for

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

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 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico {{PuertoRico-bio-stub

Early years and studies

Professional career and public service

Political career

See also

References

External links