Dr Lyda Osorio says she’s no Shakira, but she may be just as famous in some parts of Colombia.As the COVID-19 pandemic was escalating in the country a year ago, the mayor of Cali, the third-largest city, decided to assemble a team of health experts to tackle the rising number of cases.
To lead this multidisciplinary team, he tapped Dr Osorio, a respected public health researcher at Del Valle University, as the city’s epidemiologist.They got to work tracking COVID-19 transmission, designing and implementing strategies appropriate for Cali, and conducting research to help improve the strategies and minimize the impact of the disease on the city’s people and surrounding communities.Dr Osorio’s leadership got noticed.