Silvia Blair

Silvia Blair Trujillo is a Colombian scientist, known for her research on antimalarial compounds found in traditional plants from her country. During her research career, Blair has received various awards and recognitions, such as the Héctor Abad Gómez Medal to merits in Public Health in 1992, an honorable mention in the area of Basic Experimental Sciences in 2000, a Francisco José de Caldas Medal for University Excellence in 2008, and was named Emeritus Professor of the University of Antioquia in 2017.
Career.
Silvia Blair studied medicine at the University of Antioquia, graduating in 1974. In 2002, she enrolled at the National University of Colombia in Medellín, where she got a master's degree in science history and philosophy.
Her work is mainly linked to the Universidad de Antioquia, where she has been a teacher and researcher since the 1970s. Her areas of research have focused mainly on malaria and its treatment with Colombian traditional plants. In 1990 she founded the Malaria Group at the university, which was the first to report on cases of "Plasmodium ovale" (a rare species in Colombia) and "human Babesiosis" (disease transmitted by ticks).
Together with her research group, Silvia Blair travelled to different regions of Colombia such as the Pacific Coast, Urabá Antioqueño and the Bajo Cauca, to collect data on the plants used by locals to treat malaria. They reported species such as "Solanum nudum" and "Austroeupatorium inulifolium" as effective treatments for this disease.