Celia Miralles, the doctor who challenges AIDS

Celia Miralles highlights curiosity as one of her greatest assets. Those who know her immediately add intelligence, empathy and persistence. The perfect combination of these qualities has made the doctor and researcher from Vigo an authority on HIV treatment and care in Galicia. A professional who In the late 1980s, he headed the comprehensive AIDS unit in Vigo. throughout all these years, cared for and accompanied those affected by this disease and was an active witness to the enormous evolution it has undergone. But above all, Miralles understood from the very beginning that women needed a special approach in this epidemic and for many years coordinated the European program “She”. At the end of the year, Celia hangs up her white coat after a busy career, and her patients already miss her.

The woman from Vigo, born in the Berbes region, had no medical references in her family. His father was a cashier at Vigo cinemas and kept accounts at the beginning of Radio Vigo, and his mother worked as a clerk at the lottery. “In my family and in my neighborhood, I was the first to go to university.”bill. The woman from Vigo and her older brother grew up between Vigo and Tominho, where her mother is from, a country where “I spent every summer, and it was linked to my way of understanding life and my connection with nature.”

Celia always stood out as a student deserving of scholarships, which accompanied her throughout her studies. He assures that in his youth he did not feel a clear calling to medicine. “I was curious about many things; at first I wanted to be a zoologist, although I was also interested in literature; I think I could have been satisfied with many things, but I do not regret the path I chose, because it was exciting,” he says.

In 1972, the woman from Vigo settled in Santiago and began a new phase. The faculty classes were his goal, but also feminism burst into her life“I was brought up in a very sexist way at home: my brother had no responsibility for the house, and my mother and I took care of everything. I rebelled against this injustice from an early age,” she says. Celia’s innate concern led her to get involved with various feminist associations in Santiago, starting with the Asociación Galega da Muller. He also joined the left-wing party; she was very active in meetings and, with other colleagues, created the so-called Women’s Cell. But he soon became disillusioned with his philosophy. “I left the party when I discovered how sexist they were; they thought that devoting yourself to women was an indecent job,” he criticizes. “I had too many worries, and now I regret not having focused more on my career and not having enjoyed my studies.”

When choosing a specialty, he settled on Internal Medicinebecause “it included many possibilities.”

After finishing her studies in 1986, Celia returned to Vigo and, together with Lola Galovart and Ana Míguez, founded the pioneering women’s rights information centre, Alecrin, where the doctor gave lectures and courses for women on sexual health and contraception. “We opened the first shelter when there was nothing like it at the institutional level, it was a big step forward,” he says.

Celia did not stop. After the creation of a home hospitalization unit at the then Xeral Hospital and another intensive phase in the emergency department, The colleague who was conducting a short consultation on HIV at the time left, and the doctor took over the matter.together with another colleague from this complex department, which treated more than a thousand patients.

“At that time, in the early 90s, there wasn’t even a single consultation at the 34th entrance: When you were diagnosed, the disease was fatal and there was no cure.. 70% of the patients were or had been partners of drug addicts, even prisoners came with the police… This door was a slum, and patients who had nothing to do with the drug world did not want to come, they were afraid,” Miralles describes.

The doctor and her partner put their hearts and souls into caring for those people who were suddenly given the terrible news that they were carrying the most stigmatizing and unknown virus in existence. “The Barcelona Clinic used to have an impressive service, but here for many years we were under-resourced and worked piecework: very sick people came to us and We focused on preventing multiple infections that they can develop,” he says.

We added another quality to Celia – strength. Without it, it would be impossible to face the daily horror stories of her patients. To numerous deaths from hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver, hemophilia… “The first drugs that appeared were very toxic, with minimal treatment effectiveness and devastating side effects; They even changed the morphology of people who had already suffered the most stigmatizing disease, along with leprosy, which. Even the file folders were marked with a red sticker. It was very difficult because entire families were infected, children were born positive. Then I advised them to have an abortion,” she describes.

Celia managed to find time to continue training as it was important to stay informed about the progress of the disease“He attended conferences every year and belonged to the scientific society GESIDA. He was also in very close contact with associations and centers for drug addiction, such as Alborada or Cedro. In the early 90s, Herguete awarded us the title of Judge Garzón, and it was a great honor,” the researcher thanks.

One of the achievements that Miralles is most proud of is piloting. The “She” program, aimed at HIV-positive womenwhich included sixteen European countries. “Special attention to women was very necessary, because we are more vulnerable to HIV infection, both physiologically and socially. However, this was not taken into account at the beginning, and until 1993 there were not even women in clinical trials,” he laments.

The project team, made up of women from various NGOs and doctors, met monthly in London to prepare special materials for the treatment of women“It was exciting and I’m proud of it,” says the doctor, who received the 2022 national GESIDA award for her career.

Despite the enormous challenges, Celia insists that it has been “a privilege, both as a doctor and as a human being, to watch this epidemic unfold.” “We have gone from a disease that was certain to kill to giving those newly diagnosed the same life expectancy as anyone their age; giving them the opportunity to have children with donor sperm or eggs… Instead of taking 30 pills a day, they now take one pill or injection every two months, which cures 99% of patients. The change has been total, and it’s exciting,” he insists.

But he warns we must remain vigilant. “There is still a long way to go, and there is no vaccine yet.”

The doctor is retiring at the end of the year and he says there are tears in his office every day when one of his oldest patients hears the news. “I still have people who were affected from the beginning, some in their 90s, survivors with whom we have been through very difficult times. As a doctor you have to keep a certain distance, but it is impossible not to intervene,” he admits.

Despite her intense work, the doctor did not give up on motherhood, although she waited until she was 30 to take the step. “Growing up was a difficult time,” the mother of four warns with a smile. “It would not have been possible without the help and great support of my second partner, who is also a doctor, but who devoted more time to the children than I did,” he thanks. Whether it is present or not, the truth is that Celia always thought about the children. “Even if I was at a conference in the United States, I always knew what each of my children was doing,” he says.

The passion she has for her profession inevitably brought her home and left a bright mark on her children. The eldest is an oncologist, another daughter is a family doctor, another is a lab technician, and the little one is a pharmacist.. Only one of them chose a different path and works as a cook in a famous restaurant in Vigo. “We never insisted on anything, they chose. What we really did was to educate them in a spirit of equality, to offer them an open education and to try to educate them in a critical spirit and ethical consciousness,” he notes.

Since leaving the hospital, Celia has indulged her many hobbies. “I enjoy spending time with my family, going to the gym, taking part in a reading club, I love classical music, cinema, languages, art, gastronomy, photography… When I retire, I don’t want to do great things, I want to get up without an alarm clock and enjoy these little pleasures calmly and leisurely, like I have until now,” he laughs. And she rushes to Pilates classes, rushing all day, since she still has to answer emails before bed.

Pioneers: Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, discoverer of the AIDS virus.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (Paris, 1947) graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences in 1972 and received a doctorate in virology in 1974. He defended his doctoral dissertation in the laboratory of the Pasteur Institute.

In late 1982, a Paris hospital diagnosed its first patient with a mysterious contagious disease that resisted all known treatments. They were asked to determine whether the infectious agent was a virus.

In 1983 Barré-Sinoussi, together with Luc Montenier, succeeded in isolating the retrovirus known as HIV.They discovered that it was a new virus that attacked the immune system, destroying the body’s defenses.

From this moment on, French biochemistry He focused his career on AIDS research.In 1988, she became the head of her own laboratory and began researching mechanisms of protection against HIV.

For this important discovery, Barré-Sinoussi and Montaigne received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008.

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