Carola Garcia de Vinuesa facts for kids

Carola Garcia de Vinuesa (born 1969) is a Spanish doctor, scientist, and professor. She is a top 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 work. These include the Australian Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year. She also received the Gottschalk Medal.

Her Journey to Becoming a Scientist

Carola Vinuesa studied medicine at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain. She earned her Bachelor of Medicine degree there.

While she was a student, she helped people in need. She worked in a leprosy clinic in Kolkata, India. She also trained health workers in Ghana in countryside areas. She saw many children in Ghana get sick with meningitis. This is a serious brain infection. She realized that learning the cause of such diseases was very important. This would help develop ways to prevent them.

So, she moved to the United Kingdom (UK). There, she did special training and research. Her goal was to understand how meningitis affects the body. In 2000, she earned her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Immunology from the University of Birmingham.

In 2001, she received a special fellowship. This allowed her to do more research in Australia. She worked at The John Curtin School for Medical Research. This school is part of the Australian National University.

Important Discoveries and Research

In 2005, Dr. Vinuesa made an important discovery. She found a genetic change in mice. This change led to an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases happen when the body's immune system attacks its own healthy cells.

In 2014, she received a special grant. With this money, she opened The Centre for Personalised Immunology at ANU. She was one of the first scientists in Australia to use DNA sequencing. This method helps link diseases to small changes in our genes.

She was recognized for her excellent work. In 2015, she became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2020, she also became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

In 2021, her team received a large award. The Lupus Research Alliance gave them $3 Million. This money helps them study why lupus affects people differently. Lupus is another autoimmune disease.

In 2022, Dr. Vinuesa moved back to the UK. She took a new position at the Francis Crick Institute.

Helping in Important Cases

Dr. Vinuesa's expertise in immunogenetics has been very helpful. This field studies how genes affect our immune system. She was asked to help with a complex legal case in Australia. A student told her that the medical evidence in the case seemed wrong. Dr. Vinuesa agreed to help. She felt it was a very important cause, especially as a mother.

The CALM2 Gene Case

In 2018, Dr. Vinuesa and another geneticist, Dr. Todor Arsov, studied DNA. They looked for genetic changes that could cause sudden, unexplained deaths in young children. They found a change in a gene called CALM2. This gene is part of a family called Calmodulin (CALM). Changes in CALM genes had been linked to serious heart problems. These problems can cause sudden death.

The scientific evidence was discussed in court. Some scientists disagreed on how to interpret the findings. Dr. Vinuesa believed their role was to show if there was any doubt about the cause of death. She felt it was not about giving a final diagnosis.

During the process, Dr. Vinuesa felt that efforts were made to question the defense experts. She believed the focus should have been on finding the truth.

Conclusion and Verdict

In 2019, the court decided that Dr. Vinuesa's team had not "clearly explained" the deaths. Dr. Vinuesa was concerned. She felt the court did not fully consider the new scientific evidence. She then sought opinions from top international experts. One expert, Professor Peter Schwartz, had studied similar CALM gene changes. He found cases where children died suddenly from heart problems. Their mothers carried the gene but seemed healthy.

Dr. Vinuesa found more evidence. Up to 20% of sudden heart deaths happen during sleep. She found nine reported cases of these deaths in infants and toddlers. She shared this information with the court.

However, in July 2019, the judge decided that the person involved would remain in prison. The judge preferred the evidence from other experts. Dr. Vinuesa felt this decision was "deeply unjust."

Appeal and Advocacy

Dr. Vinuesa continued her research on the CALM2 gene. She worked with a Danish biochemist, Michael Toft Overgard. They ran tests on the gene change. The results clearly showed that the CALM2 change could cause serious heart rhythm problems. These problems could be deadly. The results matched other CALM changes known to cause death in young children during sleep.

This new scientific paper was used in an appeal. However, the court upheld the earlier decision.

In March 2021, Dr. Vinuesa took further action. She, along with over 100 other scientists, signed a petition. This petition asked for a special pardon based on her research. The petition stated that ignoring strong medical evidence sets a dangerous example. Dr. Vinuesa has since visited the person in prison.

She also wrote an essay for The Conversation. In it, she shared her team's evidence. She also criticized how the legal process handled scientific information. She hoped that legal settings would welcome and value scientific methods more in the future.

Thanks to the efforts of the scientific community, on June 5, 2023, Kathleen Folbigg was granted an unconditional pardon and set free.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Vinuesa has received many honors 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. This was for her research on the causes of autoimmune diseases.
• In 2022, Dr. Vinuesa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists.

Personal Life

Carola Vinuesa was born and grew up in Cadiz, Spain. She has two daughters. She says her career choices were similar to her father's. He was a lawyer who served his community. He worked in the government in Spain.

As of August 2021, Dr. Vinuesa lives in the UK.