Biography

Vania is the Head of Biodiversity based in Lima, Peru. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and two bachelor’s degrees in business administration and Biological Sciences from the University of Brasilia in Brazil. Vania is an expert in genetic resources conservation with 18 years of experience in the area. At CIP, Vania leads the Biodiversity Science Goal, mobilizing genetic diversity to enrich agroecologies and livelihoods. The four main areas targeted are in situ conservation, ex situ conservation (Genebank), accelerating the use of genetic resources, and cryo vault. The work focuses on implementing effective conservation of roots and tuber crops (RTCs) in perpetuity through a network approach of in situ and ex situ conservation, enabling other genebanks to conserve RTCs and other priority crops that cannot be conserved as seeds for future generations. More than conserving, activities to promote the increased use of the genetic materials by public and private sectors in breeding and research are also of high importance.