Rate My Professor Veronica Jimenez Ortiz

Veronica Jimenez Ortiz is a Professor of Biological Science, Biology Graduate Program Adviser, and Program Coordinator for the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) Program (2023-2028) in the Department of Biological Science at California State University, Fullerton. She earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile, M.Sc. from Juan Agustín Maza University in Mendoza, Argentina, and B.Pharm. from the same university. Following her Ph.D., she served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases at the University of Georgia. Her research specializes in parasitic infections, host-parasite interactions, and infectious diseases drug discovery, with a focus on the role of ion channels in sensing and adaptation to environmental conditions in protozoan parasites such as Trypanosoma cruzi. This includes studies on mechanosensation and electrophysiology relevant to diseases like Chagas disease and sleeping sickness. Dr. Jimenez Ortiz utilizes molecular biology and electrophysiology to investigate ion channels and transporters regulating host-pathogen interactions. She has received multiple grants from the American Heart Association and National Institutes of Health, including a K99 award, and serves as principal investigator on an R15 research grant. In 2017, she was awarded $404,813 from the Department of Health and Human Services. She advanced from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in 2019 and to full Professor at CSUF. Additionally, she acts as Vice-Chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee and ad-hoc reviewer for NSF, NIH, AHA, and various scientific journals.