Carola Garcia de Vinuesa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Professor Carola Garcia de Vinuesa FRS FAA FAHMS
In a 2019 interview
Born	1969 (age 55–56) Spain
Alma mater	Autonomous University of Madrid University of Birmingham
Known for	Immunogenetics
Scientific career
Fields	Immunology
Institutions	Francis Crick Institute Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Australian Academy of Science

Carola Garcia de Vinuesa is a Spanish doctor and scientist, born in 1969. She is a leading researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London. She also works at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra, Australia. Dr. Vinuesa has won important awards for her scientific discoveries.

Education and Scientific Journey

Carola Vinuesa studied medicine at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain.

While she was a student, she helped people in different parts of the world. She worked in a clinic for leprosy in Kolkata, India. She also helped teach health workers in villages in Ghana. She saw many children in Ghana get very sick from meningitis, a serious brain infection. This made her want to learn more about diseases. She decided to focus on finding out what causes illnesses so doctors can prevent them.

She moved to the United Kingdom to study how the body fights diseases. In 2000, she earned her PhD in Immunology from the University of Birmingham. Immunology is the study of the body's immune system.

In 2001, she received a special scholarship to do more research in Australia. She worked at The John Curtin School for Medical Research at the Australian National University.

Key Discoveries

In 2005, Dr. Vinuesa made an important discovery. She found a change in the genes of mice that caused an autoimmune disease. This is when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells.

In 2014, she received a special grant to open The Centre for Personalised Immunology at the Australian National University. This center focuses on understanding how each person's unique genes affect their health. She was one of the first scientists in Australia to use DNA sequencing to connect diseases to small changes in a person's genes.

In 2015, she became a member of the Australian Academy of Science. This is a group of top scientists in Australia. In 2020, she also joined the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

In 2021, her team received a large award to study lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect many parts of the body. Her team wanted to understand why lupus is different for each patient.

In 2022, Dr. Vinuesa moved back to the UK to work at the Francis Crick Institute.

Investigating Genetic Links in Legal Cases

Dr. Vinuesa has used her knowledge of genetics to help in important legal cases. She believes that science can help find the truth.

The Kathleen Folbigg Case

In 2018, Dr. Vinuesa was asked to look into the case of Kathleen Folbigg. Ms. Folbigg had been accused of causing the deaths of her children. Many experts felt that the medical evidence in the case was not clear. Dr. Vinuesa's expertise in immunogenetics could help find if there was a hidden medical reason for the children's deaths.

Dr. Vinuesa looked at the medical information. She noticed signs of common causes for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), like a floppy voice box or heart problems. She thought these signs should have created doubt about the accusations. She agreed to help, saying that as a mother, she felt it was a very important cause.

In November 2018, Dr. Vinuesa and another scientist, Dr. Todor Arsov, studied Ms. Folbigg's DNA. They looked for changes in her genes that could be linked to diseases causing SIDS. They found a change in a gene called CALM2. This gene is part of a family of genes called Calmodulin (CALM). Changes in CALM genes had been linked to serious heart problems that can cause sudden death. A computer test showed that this CALM2 change was likely very dangerous.

Court Hearings and Expert Opinions

The new genetic evidence was discussed in court. Some scientists from Sydney, hired by the government, did not agree with Dr. Vinuesa's findings. They said her evidence was just "speculation." They wanted to be 90% sure that the gene change caused the disease. Dr. Vinuesa argued that their job was to see if there was reasonable doubt about Ms. Folbigg's guilt, not to give a final diagnosis. Some experts agreed with Dr. Vinuesa, and two different reports were written.

During the investigation, Dr. Vinuesa felt that a lot of effort was spent trying to prove her team wrong, instead of trying to find the truth. Another expert said that Ms. Folbigg had no signs of heart disease, so her children could not have died from it. But Dr. Arsov pointed out that Ms. Folbigg had fainted while swimming as a teenager. The Sydney team also said they did not know of CALM gene changes causing death in young children while they were asleep.

Conclusion and Appeal

In 2019, the judge decided that Dr. Vinuesa's team had not "clearly explained" the deaths. Dr. Vinuesa was upset because she felt the court did not want to consider new ideas. She decided to ask other top international experts about the CALM2 gene. One expert, Professor Peter Schwartz, had just published a paper about CALM gene changes. His paper described a family with a very similar CALM gene change. In that family, two children died suddenly from heart problems, even though their mother, who carried the gene, seemed healthy. Professor Schwartz said he had "significant doubts" about Ms. Folbigg's conviction.

Even though the CALM2 gene change was now considered "likely to cause disease," the other team and the prosecution did not seem to accept the new evidence. Dr. Vinuesa found more information showing that up to 20% of sudden heart deaths happen during sleep. She also found nine cases of these deaths in babies and toddlers.

In July 2019, the judge decided that Ms. Folbigg would stay in prison. He said he preferred the evidence from the other experts. Dr. Vinuesa felt this decision was very unfair.

Continued Advocacy

Dr. Vinuesa continued her research into the CALM2 gene. She convinced a Danish scientist, Michael Toft Overgard, to test the gene change in a lab. The tests clearly showed that the CALM2 change in Ms. Folbigg's DNA could cause serious heart rhythm problems. These results were similar to other CALM changes known to cause death in young children during sleep.

In 2020, Dr. Vinuesa and many other scientists wrote a paper about their findings. Ms. Folbigg's lawyers used this paper to appeal her case to a higher court, but the judges still upheld the earlier decision.

In March 2021, Dr. Vinuesa and over 100 other scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners, signed a petition. They asked for Ms. Folbigg to be pardoned based on Dr. Vinuesa's research. The petition stated that keeping Ms. Folbigg in prison ignored strong medical and scientific evidence. Dr. Vinuesa also visited Ms. Folbigg in prison.

Dr. Vinuesa wrote an essay explaining her concerns about the court process. She said that scientists should be chosen based on their expertise and treated as equals in legal cases. She hoped that in the future, legal systems would better understand and use scientific methods.

Because of the efforts of the scientific community, Kathleen Folbigg was given a full pardon and set free on June 5, 2023. Her original conviction was later overturned.

The Roula Pispirigou Case

In September 2023, Dr. Vinuesa was involved in another child death case in Greece. This was the case of Roula Pispirigou, who was accused of causing the deaths of her three children. Dr. Vinuesa testified as an expert for the defense. She stated that the many medical findings in the children showed natural causes for their deaths. She suggested they might have had a genetic liver and heart disease. She concluded that there was no scientific evidence to show the mother was responsible for the deaths.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Carola Vinuesa has received several important awards for her work:

• In 2008, she won the Australian Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.
• In 2009, she won the Australian Academy of Science's Gottschalk Medal. Both awards were for her research into how autoimmune diseases start.
• In 2022, Dr. Vinuesa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.

Personal Life

Carola Vinuesa was born and grew up in Cádiz, Spain. She has two daughters. She says her career choices were similar to her father's. Her father was a lawyer who worked to help his community. He also worked for the government in Spain during its move to democracy.

As of July 2025, Dr. Vinuesa lives in the UK.