KARLA RUIZ DE CASTILLA
Director
ESPERANTRA
Karla Ruiz de Castilla is currently CEO of Esperantra, an advocacy non-profit organization based in Peru for patients with cancer and other chronic conditions. Karla has a master’s degree in Economics and Administration from the University La Sapienza in Rome, Italy, and she has an HTA diploma from Piura University in Lima, Peru. Karla has been collaborating with patients for more than 10 years to empower their voices and increase their participation in health system decision-making at all levels. Karla is driven by a strong belief in patient-centered medicine as a means to strengthen health care systems,and thus improve patient access to needed treatments and services. She is the founder of the Latin American Union against Lung Cancer (ULACPUL), board member of the Ibero American Alliance for Rare Diseases (ALIBER), and member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), organization that elected Esperantra as the first South American Country Champion.