Dr. Luis Jiménez-arias

Biography

 Dr. Luis Jiménez-Arias was a member of the Advisory Board of Directors for the Institute of Cell Medicine in Costa Rica, a unique stem cell center which he was instrumental in creating.  Previously he served for 10 years in Merck Sharp and Dohme. He also spent several years working as a graduate program professor at the Institute of External Affairs in Costa Rica, preparing students to serve in the diplomatic corps in Ethics and Political Philosophy. Also in Costa Rica he has served as a professor of bioethics at the John Paul II University, at the Santa Paula University, and at CENDEISSS (the Center for Information on Social Health). For five years Dr. Jiménez served as a member of the Bioethics Board of the Costa Rica Medical Association, and he has provided scientific advice for numerous medical professionals, legislators, policymakers and local organizations. Early in his career, Dr. Jiménez was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center in Davie, Florida, where he worked on developing techniques for the diagnosis of fastidious prokaryotes. He was a pioneer in developing ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) in Costa Rica. He received his Master’s degree in Microbiology in 1986 from the University of Costa Rica where he later received a Ph.D. While working for Merck he graduated from the MBA program of the University of San Diego, California. In 1999 he moved to New York to study theology and he obtained his Master’s in Divinity in 2003, after which he moved to Rome, Italy to pursue further studies in bioethics, where he graduated from the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University with honors under the approval of His Holiness, Pope Benedictus XVI. Dr. Jiménez was selected by the Costa Rica government to give a talk in 2004 at the sixth Committee of the United Nations in New York City on human cloning and human dignity. He was also selected to give a talk to the main political party in Costa Rica on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Dr. Jiménez’s research interests encompass various aspects of prokaryotes evolution, stem cell ethics and environmental ethics. He is the author of a book entitled, “Bioethics and the Environment, a Brief Review of the Ethical Aspects of the Precautionary Principle and Genetic Modified Crops,” and he has provided scientific testimony before the Costa Rica Congress on bioethics and the beginning of life. Dr. Jiménez has published numerous bioethics articles in newspapers in his country and travels nationally and internationally to give frequent invited lectures regarding stem cell research, cloning and bioethics.

Research Interest

 Genetics and Stem Cell