Studying at Harvard University is a dream that few can fulfill. Starting next year, that dream will be real for Isabel María Moreno Rivas. The young Andalusian will begin her studies in Neuroscience at the prestigious American university with a clear objective: to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease.
"In my family there are several cases of Alzheimer's and from there the desire to find a cure or, at least, improve the quality of life of people who suffer from these diseases was born," explained Isabel, 18, to the NIUS portal. .
Born in Jódar, a municipality of 12,000 inhabitants in Jaén, she is in her second year of Baccalaureate at the Juan López Morillas Institute. She does so with an impeccable academic record so far: a 10. Despite having already been admitted to the Faculty of Neuroscience and it is not necessary for her, she will still take the selectivity exams.
In the report published in the digital newspaper, Isabel says that "for years" she has been reading books on neuroscience and had Harvard as a reference university. This motivated her to send an application to the university center and on March 31, at dawn, she received acceptance of her admission.
"The first reaction was to run out to wake up and hug my parents and my brother, screaming and crying with joy. If it's something that I still find hard to believe, at that moment it seemed like a dream," Isabel said.
Despite this, he does not deny that before taking the step "many doubts arose along the way, but he did not lose anything by trying it", highlighting the support of family and friends to continue with his dream.
It is a great responsibility and a challenge, but I am very happy to be able to put the name of my town, my family and my institute, that they feel proud and that people see that the effort has its results no matter how long the road be hard”.
Isabel received in 2021 the extraordinary Secondary Award in Andalusia. Her interest in researching degenerative brain diseases since she was little may turn into a job in the near future.
Precisely in the United States, two new drugs against Alzheimer's have recently been approved that could slow down the cognitive deterioration suffered by millions of people in the world, although some experts still call for caution. Some 800,000 suffer from this disease in Spain, according to estimates by the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN).
