Pedro José Curi-Curi was born on December 7, 1969 in the city of La Paz (Bolivia) and is the son of Lebanese parents. His primary studies were completed at Saint Andrew's School, from which he graduated with honors. He completed the Medicine Carrer at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, obtaining the best grade point average upon graduation. Later he moved to Santiago (Chile) to carry out his specialty studies in General Surgery, in which he obtained honorable mention, and was the first foreigner to complete the sub-specialty of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. After completing his surgical training, he returned to his country and was part of the staff that promoted the opening of the Cardiovascular Surgery Service at the Hospital Obrero No. 1 of the Caja Nacional de Salud, where he worked for two years. During that time he became aware of the institutional need in the care of congenital heart diseases and for that reason he traveled to Mexico City (Mexico) to undergo a training program in Congenital Heart Malformation Surgery at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México with headquarter at the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología “Ignacio Chávez”, institution where he currently works as an ad honorem professor of Cardiovascular Surgical Pathology.

His spirit of innovation prompted him to enroll in a regionalization project for congenital heart diseases in Mexico, and he was part of the medical delegation that participated in the inauguration of the Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de Ixtapaluca (State of Mexico), where he was the pioneer of Cardiovascular Surgery. After completing a master's degree in Health Sciences, a master's degree in Hospital Administration, a doctorate in Research in Medicine and a doctorate in Senior Management, he was promoted to Head of the Postgraduate Unit, a position that holds to this day. He is also a founding member of important entities in the Cardiovascular area such as the World Society of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, the Asociación Mexicana de Especialistas en Cardiopatías Congénitas, and the Colegio Mexicano de Cirugía Cardiovascular y Torácica.

Among his professional contributions, highlights his collaboration in the development and implementation of a National Database for Congenital Heart Disease Surgery, his contributions in the training of health personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his tireless work as professor at diferent levels such as undergraduate, postgraduate, mastery and continuing education, having trained dozens of generations of health personnel in different specialties.

His most relevant scientific contributions are reflected in the following research lines:

• Usefulness of the S-100B protein as a biomarker of neurological damage in congenital heart disease surgery.
• Study of natriuretic brain peptide and other biomarkers as prognostic factors in COVID-19.
• Effects of altitude on the Fontan procedure.
• Clinical results of the development of alternative methods to homografts in restitution of continuity from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery.
• Experimental effects of hyperbaric oxygen in the neovascularization of the infarcted myocardium after more than 6 hours and in the alveoli- capillary unit with irreversible pulmonary hypertension in murine models.