Patricio López-Jaramillo was born in Quito, Ecuador, on February 10, 1953. He obtained his Medical Doctor degree from the Universidad Central del Ecuador in 1978. He became an Endocrinologist certified by the Colegio Médico de Pichincha and the Federación Médica del Ecuador in 1984. In 1987, he received a PhD in Pharmacology from the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. In 2004, he obtained certification as a Clinical Specialist in Hypertension from the Latin American Society of Hypertension (LASH) and the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Dr. López-Jaramillo worked at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in London, United Kingdom, with Salvador Moncada between 1987 and 1990, participating in the discovery and characterization of the L-Arginine–Nitric Oxide pathway in the vascular endothelium.
He is currently Professor and General Rector of the Universidad de Santander (UDES) and Scientific Director of the Masira Research Institute. He has been recognized as an Emeritus Researcher, the highest scientific distinction granted by the Colombian Ministry of Science.
Dr. López-Jaramillo is a member of the Lancet Commission on Hypertension and serves as the national leader in Colombia for large international studies such as PURE, INTERSTROKE and HOPE-4, focused on cardiovascular risk and hypertension.
Throughout his career he has received several international recognitions, including the Scientific Merit Award of the Colombian Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006; the Award from the Colombian Scientific Associations and Medical Schools of Bucaramanga for a Life Dedicated to Medical Research in 2018; the Honorary Membership Award of the European Society of Hypertension in 2018; the Alberto Zanchetti Life Achievement Award from the same society in 2022; the Ángela Restrepo Award from the Colombian Government as the Best Colombian Researcher in Life Sciences and Health; the Order Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento granted by the Government of Santander in 2024; and the Award for the Developing World 2024 from the International Society of Hypertension.
He has published more than 370 scientific articles on hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors in leading journals such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and BMJ. His work has accumulated more than 150,000 citations and he is consistently ranked among the most influential medical scientists in Colombia.
Dr. López-Jaramillo has served on the editorial boards of Hypertension, Journal of Hypertension, and European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, and has contributed as author or reviewer to hypertension guidelines from the World Health Organization, the European Society of Hypertension and the International Society of Hypertension.
He is an Honorary Member of more than 15 international scientific societies and served as President of the Latin American Society of Hypertension (LASH) from 2014 to 2016, as well as of the Ecuadorian and Bolivarian Societies of Endocrinology.