The American Cancer Society estimates that breast cancer will claim the lives of more than 40,700 Americans in 2015. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women in the United States, after lung cancer. It has been estimated that doctors will diagnose nearly 232,000 women with invasive breast cancer and around 60,300 women with non-invasive breast cancer, this year.

Dr. María Tamargo’s interest in science began as a young woman. She was first exposed to chemistry as a high school student, where she had the opportunity to study in Spain for a year. This opportunity sparked her desire to become a scientist and therefore, she decided to major in chemistry. For her undergraduate degree, María attended the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, where her parents were also professors. At the time, the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico did not offer a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Recognizing her scientific talent, one of her professors encouraged María to transfer to the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, where she completed her B.S. in Chemistry.

The municipality of Adjuntas, harbored in the mountains of Puerto Rico, has many firsts:  the first ecological and community-based radio station of the Caribbean, the first net energy metering system, the first forest reserve managed by a community organization and the Bosque Escuela (the Forest School), a unique concept in the Puerto Rican archipelago of a school amid La Olimpia Forest.  All the initiatives aforementioned are the product of Casa Pueblo a community-based organization housed in “the city of the sleeping giant”.