Home SciPol/SciDip Media+Press Research CV Contact

LUZ M. CUMBA GARCIA, Ph.D.

Immunologist | Policy Advisor | Science Communicator
AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow
IAI STeP Science Diplomacy Fellow
2022 InnScid SP Science Diplomacy Alumni
2022 AAAS/TWAS Science Diplomacy Alumni
2020 UCS Science Defender
2020 iBiology Young Scientist Series Alumni
2020 NSPN SciPol Scholars Alumni
2019 ASBMB Advocacy Training Program (ATP) Alumni
2018- 2019 Yale-Mayo Clinic CERSI Alumni
2018 AAAS Science Diplomacy and Leadership Alumni
Luz

Bio

Dr. Luz M. Cumba García is an immunologist working at the intersection of biomedical sciences, public policy, and science diplomacy. She is currently an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She works with the Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program, a research grants program that promotes Arab-Israeli scientific cooperation and regional development. Additionally, Luz is an Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) Science Diplomacy Fellow. Previously, Luz worked as Policy Advisor at the government relations firm Lewis-Burke Associates where she advised clients on public health, biomedical research, and international affairs.

Luz is passionate about advocacy, science communication, and community outreach. She is an experienced global public speaker on topics ranging from science communication, science policy, science diplomacy, and diversity and inclusion. Her efforts to inform the public, especially Spanish speakers, about COVID-19 throughout the pandemic led to her being awarded the “Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) 2020 Science Defender Award”. Luz is an advocate for increasing diversity in science, alerting the public and scientific community about federal and local policies that are relevant to science and Puerto Rico as a member of the Puerto Rico Science Policy Action Network (PR-SPAN), and promoting science diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean as a founding member of the Science Diplomacy Network in Latin America and the Caribbean (DiploCientifica).

Luz is a proud Puerto Rican! She earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Rochester, MN. She has taught and conducted research in China, Brazil, Germany with the Nobel Laureate Harald zur Hausen, and Spain at the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine Lopez Neyra, where she obtained her Master’s Degree in 2013. Luz graduated in 2012 from Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, PR with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

Luz

Bio

Dr. Luz M. Cumba García is an immunologist working at the intersection of biomedical sciences, public policy, and science diplomacy. She is currently an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She works with the Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program, a research grants program that promotes Arab-Israeli scientific cooperation and regional development. Additionally, Luz is an Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) Science Diplomacy Fellow. Previously, Luz worked as Policy Advisor at the government relations firm Lewis-Burke Associates where she advised clients on public health, biomedical research, and international affairs.

Luz is passionate about advocacy, science communication, and community outreach. She is an experienced global public speaker on topics ranging from science communication, science policy, science diplomacy, and diversity and inclusion. Her efforts to inform the public, especially Spanish speakers, about COVID-19 throughout the pandemic led to her being awarded the “Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) 2020 Science Defender Award”. Luz is an advocate for increasing diversity in science, alerting the public and scientific community about federal and local policies that are relevant to science and Puerto Rico as a member of the Puerto Rico Science Policy Action Network (PR-SPAN), and promoting science diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean as a founding member of the Science Diplomacy Network in Latin America and the Caribbean (DiploCientifica).

Luz is a proud Puerto Rican! She earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Rochester, MN. She has taught and conducted research in China, Brazil, Germany with the Nobel Laureate Harald zur Hausen, and Spain at the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine Lopez Neyra, where she obtained her Master’s Degree in 2013. Luz graduated in 2012 from Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, PR with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

My Ph.D. Dissertation

My Ph.D. dissertation aimed to characterize extracellular vesicles, or EVs, which are tiny particles shed from brain tumors that can be found in the blood. Tumor EVs are messengers that send signals throughout the whole body to promote tumor growth and shut down anti-tumor immune responses. By analyzing the vesicles extracted from blood, it may be possible to identify if there is a tumor, what type of tumor it is, if it’s progressing, if the treatment is working, and how is the tumor suppressing the immune system. The information we get from analyzing the EVs can be used to provide early treatment to patients that need it and prevent unnecessary treatment to those who don’t.

Get to Know Luz's Passions: SciPol, SciDip, and SciComm (Spanish)

Get to Know Luz's Career Trajectory (Spanish)

Luz at "In a Perfect Policy" Podcast by CaSP UW-Madison

Upcoming Meetings

International Workshop on STI Development in Central America
September 21-22, 2023
Washington, DC

Past Meetings

SRI 2023 Congress
June 26-30, 2023
Panama City, Panama

AAAS Annual Meeting
March 2-5, 2023
Washington, DC

SACNAS Conference
October 27-29, 2022
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Tigers for Inclusion, Diversity, and Ethics (TIDE) Conference
March 7-10, 2022
Clemson, South Carolina

AAAS Annual Meeting
February 17-20, 2022
Virtual Conference

National Science Policy Network (NSPN) Symposium
November 19-20, 2021
Virtual Conference

AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop
September 23-24, 2021
Virtual Conference

S4D4C Final Networking Meeting
March 15-19, 2021
Virtual Conference

AAAS Annual Meeting
February 8-11, 2021
Virtual Conference

Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting
November 19-21, 2020
Virtual Conference

National Science Policy Network (NSPN) Symposium
November 13-14, 2020
Virtual Conference

AAAS Science and Technology Policy Forum
October 13-14, 2020
Virtual Conference

International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Meeting
July 20-22, 2020
Virtual Conference

AAAS Annual Meeting
February 13-16, 2020
Seattle, WA

Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting
November 20-24, 2019
Phoenix, Arizona

National Science Policy Network (NSPN) Symposium
November 1-3, 2019
Madison, Wisconsin

AIMBE Public Policy Institute
October 28-29, 2019
Washington, DC

International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Meeting
April 24-28, 2019
Kyoto, Japan

3rd International Conference of Women in Science without Borders (WISWB)
March 10-14, 2019
Cairo, Egypt

AAAS Annual Meeting
Feb 14-17, 2019
Washington, DC

Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting
November 15-18, 2018
New Orleans, Lousiana

Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting
November 3-7, 2018
San Diego, California

SEPA & NSPN Second Annual Science Policy Symposium
November 10, 2018
New York, NY

Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (MCGSBS) Symposium
September 26, 2018
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Individualizing Medicine Conference
September 12-13, 2018
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

24th Annual Mayo Clinic and Karolinska Institutet Scientific Meeting
September 10th-11th, 2018
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Leadership Development

IAI STeP Science Diplomacy Fellowship
March 2023 - March 2024

InnSciD SP Science Diplomacy School
August 1 - August 5, 2022

AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy
July 25 - August 3, 2022

iBiology Young Scientist Virtual Training Series
September 28 - October 30, 2020

NSPN SciPol Scholars-in-Residence (SPSR) Program
July 29 - August 26, 2020

ASBMB Advocacy Training Program (ATP)
June 14 - December 6, 2019

Capita3 Leader Launch Program / Mayo Clinic
September 4-25, 2018
Rochester, MN

Mujeres de HACE
August 22 - December 11, 2018
Minneapolis, MN

Latest Posts


View this post on Instagram

¡Hola Jevas! Mi nombre es Luz Milbeth Cumba García (@lmilbeth @scitopia) y aunque no lo parezca soy una científica boricua. Soy inmunóloga, o sea, que trabajo con enfermedades del sistema inmunitario, como el cáncer. Actualmente me encuentro en la Clínica Mayo (@mayoclinic) en Rochester, Minnesota (¡sumamente frío!) haciendo mi doctorado en Inmunología. Mi tésis se enfoca en diagnosticar tumores cerebrales agresivos como glioblastoma (GBM) de forma no invasiva, estudiando pequeñas partículas que se encuentran en la sangre, llamadas exosomas. ¡Imagínate saber si tienes cáncer y si el tratamiento te funciona con tan sólo una muestra de sangre! ¡Estamos en el proceso de patentarlo y comenzar una compañía muy pronto! Mis amigos cercanos me apodan Carmen Sandiego ya que nunca saben en qué parte del mundo estoy metida; gracias a las ciencias he tenido la oportunidad de viajar constantemente y conocer lugares que nunca imaginé. Soy de Carolina y estudié en la Universidad Metropolitana mi bachillerato en Biología Celular y Molecular. Allí tuve la oportunidad de pertenecer a la Beca de Ciencias y de hacer 4 internados de verano en USA, España, Alemania y Brasil. En Alemania trabajé con el Premio Nobel de Medicina, Harald zur Hausen, quien descubrió el rol del virus de papiloma humano en cáncer cervical (bien importante para nosotras, jevas). Hice mi maestría en Granada, España donde además de disfrutar de buena ciencia, me deleité con las tapas. Luego de eso, me fui a China por 4 meses a enseñar destrezas básicas de investigación a estudiantes de primer año en ciencias. Además de la investigación, me apasiona la regulación y la diplomacia científica. Mi meta es trabajar con el gobierno para el avance de la ciencia, fomentando colaboraciones científicas con otros países. Mi mayor anhelo es seguir representando a la mujer latina (y puertorriqueña) en las ciencias donde quiera que vaya. He tenido la bendición de recibir muchos premios y reconocimientos, pero nada se compara con la satisfacción de ayudar a otros y de amar lo que haces. Visiten mi página luzcumbagarcia.com para que estén al tanto de mis próximas aventuras. ¡Washington, DC, Egipto y Japón son las próximas!

A post shared by JEVAS (@jevas_) on


Affiliations

Follow Me


Subscribe

Enter your email below to join my mailing list and receive updates on the latest posts and career opportunities. Please confirm your subscription through a link sent to you via email.


SUBSCRIBE

Join my mailing list to receive updates on the latest posts and other things.