Belen holds a master’s degree in pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and an MSc in Market Access, Health Economics & Outcomes Research (HEOR) from Carlos III University of Madrid.
Early in her professional career, she moved to Ghana to work as a Clinical Pharmacist at Lekma Hospital, one of the largest public hospitals in the capital city of Accra. It was there she became aware of the role “luck” plays in heathcare access, and how where you were born and where you live will define the standard of care you receive. After this experience, it became clear to her that she wanted to contribute to improving the lives of patients all over the world, by helping them access the best treatment. An opportunity to work towards this goal next presented itself in London where she joined a pharmaceutical company’s Market Access team.
After a few years in the UK, Belen returned to her native Spain and joined the Angels Initiative. The Angels mission statement – “We do whatever it takes to give life a chance” – was exactly what she had wanted to do from the start of her career. But reality exceeded expectations as she realized how many lives they were saving every day by implementing their goals of “more and better” – creating more stroke-ready hospitals and improving the quality of treatment in existing stroke-ready hospitals.
She says, “While I was an Angels consultant, a doctor once asked me who I thought was saving the most lives – the doctors working in hospitals, or Angels consultants working to improve stroke care throughout our territories. He was certain it was Angels consultants, but personally I believe in the partnership between Angels and healthcare professionals, because together we are stronger.
“Now, as Project Lead of the Angels Initiative, I am committed to continuing our mission to improve the lives of stroke patients all over the world by doing whatever it takes to give life a chance and helping to make the world a better place."
