Maria Ruth B. Pineda-Cortel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Medical Technology Faculty of Pharmacy and at the Graduate School of the University of Santo Tomas. She is an active researcher at the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences of the same university working on health-related issues on climate change, non-communicable diseases like gestational diabetes mellitus, communicable diseases like dengue and malaria, multidrug-resistant organisms, mutations, and among others. She was an ASEAN – US fellow in 2014 and an ASEAN Diplomate in 2018. She was the recipient of the Crisanto Almario Research Award in 2015, an award was given by the Philippine Association of Medical Technologists, Inc. to outstanding researchers in the field of Medical Technology. She was awarded with Academic Excellence in Research by PASMETH in 2021. Recognized internationally, she was the National Finalist for the ASEAN Science Prize for Women in 2020. Her most recent achievement is the award given by the National Academy of Science and Technology, the Outstanding Young Scientist Award in 2022 under the Health Sciences category.