Candela’s aspiration is to do her part to ensure good health and wellbeing for all, especially the most vulnerable. She is passionate about using evidence to improve programmes in humanitarian and development settings. For years, she has worked supporting international and local actors to strengthen their results by using interventions that are proven to work, strengthening their data and reinforcing leadership and teambuilding.

She holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and did her PhD research and Masters in Microbiology-Virology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

Candela has over 18 years of experience on HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, along with experience in Epidemic preparedness and response, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Maternal, Child and Adolescent health, gender equity, psychosocial support and mental health programmes.

She has worked with NGOs, multilateral organizations, academia and health institutions in Latin America, Africa, Europe and  Southeast Asia supporting them in:

• Developing health and psychosocial support programmes.
• Analysing results and sharing lessons learned in adequate forums.
• Understanding and setting up monitoring and evaluation systems.
• Strengthening program management and organizational processes.
• Training individuals in leadership skills and public speaking/advocacy.
• Designing and imparting workshops to train facilitators in health issues (HIV-AIDS, Sexual health, qualitative and quantitative data analysis).

Candela has authored several research papers. She is also the author of “Build Your Dream Team. Leadership based in a passion for people”, and the founder of Sekkan Leadership, a platform helping people from non-managerial careers, particularly in the sciences and health fields, to become stronger leaders.