I
am a Quichua (Inca) physician and medical researcher born in Otavalo, a small town in the highlands of Northern Ecuador.
The Imbabura mountain is a central figure in the region. It is known by
locals as "Imbabura Taita" (Father Imbabura). |
Imbabura Taita
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Cuicocha is a beautiful crater lake.
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What I really miss are the gigantic
mountains and majestic lakes of my homeland. It is surely a matter of being wired
for this environment and imprinted at birth. |
This is my daughter
Sioui, a bright and joyful person. She is a courageous traveler across countries,
cultures and languages. Sioui
recently finished her B.Sc in Psychology at McGill University and is
planning to enroll in a Ph.D, program in neuroscience. |
Sioui, my daughter |
Enjoying a sunny day
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Lise and Sioui are
the two most important persons in my life. They are enjoying a beautiful day at the
water front of lake San Pablo and the foot of Imbabura Taita |
He is a strong, resourceful, and
wonderful man. My father, Luis A. Maldonado L, taught me many good things about life. Especially those essential
skills for achieving high quality work. He is my empowering figure who showed me how
to cope with post-colonial oppression and face-off latino oppressors in Ecuador. |
An assertive innovator |
Spinning wool is a family task
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My parents are
weavers. The picture represents my early memories at home. With time, they
changed their weaving and marketing techniques. Today, they produce textiles with
electrical and automated equipment. |
The kindness, love and generosity
of my grandparents are endless. Sometimes their affability put them in danger.
I always thought the bigotry and rudeness of the latino ruling group in Ecuador threatened them. |
My grandparents |
Morales taita, a great healer
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He is taita Jose Manuel Morales, a
remarkable healer. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 36. I am immensely grateful to
him. In 1990, we worked together studying Llaqui (depression, anxiety,
somatization), a Quichua illness category. |
I keep nice memories of my
studies at Université de Montréal, a proud French-speaking
institution of higher education. I completed there my studies of
both community medicine and biomedical sciences. |
Université de Montréal, Canada
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McGill University, Canada
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I learned
many good things at McGill,
particularly the value of rigorous reasoning and scholarly work. I
was fortunate to have Dr. Raymond H. Prince, one of the fathers of
transcultural psychiatry, as my Masters' research supervisor. He
was an extraordinary mentor and role model. |
| My
advanced research training at the NIMH Research Center on the
Psychobiology of Ethnicity, located at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center was
exciting. Dr. Keh-Ming Lin introduced me to the energetic American
scientific community and encouraged me to pursue an academic career. |
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Harvey Mudd
College
|
My
first academic appointment in the U.S.A. was at the Claremont
Colleges; an impressive consortium of five highly selective liberal
arts colleges and two graduate institutions in California. |
Holding the
Henry R. Luce Professorship in Brain, Mind and Medicine: Cross-Cultural
Perspectives was both an intense professional experience and a wonderful
opportunity to enjoy the academic life in the U.S.A. |
Claremont McKenna
College
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A class at Pitzer
College
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Freedom and
curiosity is what I found at Pitzer College. In this context, I was
able to establish research and teaching collaborations with local Chumash
and Tongva (Native Americans nations) healers. Ms. Cecilia Garcia, a
Chumash medicine women (in the picture) is offering a healing
demonstration. |
|
Randolph Macon
Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia is a wonderful undergraduate
institution. They allowed me to pursue my interests in Indigenous
Peoples' mental health and the neuroscience of the healing process.
I wish my stay here would be for several years. |
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