María Dora Feliciangeli

In 2008 and 2012 she was a member of the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization expert committees on aspects of sand flies and American trypanosomiasis.

Her research focused on the epidemiology, immunology and diagnostics of both the parasites and insect vectors for American trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis. She led research that established two transmission cycles for cutaneous leishmaniasis with the sand fly Lutzomyia migonei as the insect vector. In addition, in 2001 she identified the species Lutzomyia psudolongipalpis within the L. longipalpis complex of at least eight species. She also led studies that demonstrated that infection with the pathogen Leishmania infantum had an adverse effect on the insect vectors.

In 1999 she was International Woman of the Year (1999) awarded by the University of Cambridge for her contributions to medical entomology and parasitology. She was president of the Venezuelan Parasitological Society. The Division of Medical Entomology Dra. María Dora Feliciangeli within the Venezuelan Incubadora Venezolana de la ciencia for multidisciplinary research into tropical disease is named after her.

Feliciangeli first worked with insects during her first degree in Rome (Dissertation, Experimental research on chemosterilizers for housefly control (Ricerche sperimentali sui chemosterilanti per il controllo di Musca domestica)). Her first post, from 1966 to 1972, was in the Rural Endemics Division of the School of Malariology and Environmental Sanitation in Venezuela. In 1972 she was appointed at the University of Carabobo, initially as an assistant to Witremundo Torrealba [es], the head of the Parasitology Department. By 1984 she had been promoted to be a full Professor. She retired from this academic post in 1991 to work as the Coordinator of the National Reference Center of Sandflies and the Medical Entomology Section, still associated with the University of Carabobo at Aragua as well as other national organisations. During her career she was also involved in setting up and delivering many training courses in public health and medical entomology. She was a member of international committees and research collaborations in medical entomology.

She graduated with a degree in biological sciences from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1965 and moved to Venezuela with her husband. From 1977 she studied at the University of London and was awarded a PhD degree in 1982. In 1963 she married the Venezuelan José Piñero. They had three children together. She died in 2017.

María Dora Feliciangeli (1940 - 2017) was Professor of Medical Entomology at the University of Carabobo, Venezuela who worked on the transmission of tropical parasites especially American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) and leishmaniasis. She was Coordinator of the National Reference Center of Sandflies and the Medical Entomology Section.