Team

Rodrigo Tarté P. is the current Academic Director of FCDS. His résumé boasts solid training in agricultural sciences. He got his PhD in Phytopathology from Cornell University, USA; he holds a Master’s degree in Horticultural Sciences from the University of California, Riverside, USA; and he has a graduate degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico.

Tarté has held numerous positions both in and outside the country: from 1981 to 1984, he was General Director of the Agricultural Research Institute of Panama (IDIAP); for eight years, he was General Director of the Tropical Agricultural Science Center for Research and Learning (CATIE), an international organization based in Costa Rica; and he was Executive Director of NATURA Foundation in Panama. He has been a consultant for the UN’s FAO, FIDA, PNUMA and UNCTAD, as well as for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and other renowned institutions and foundations.

Among his many achievements is the creation, in 1986, of the Regional Cooperation Network for Agricultural Education and Research and Renewable Natural Resources (REDCA), which includes around 90 institutions and NGOs devoted to the research, development and management of natural resources in all Central American countries. Tarté has published at least 40 scientific papers, essays and articles in books and journals, and has participated in numerous international meetings and conferences. His professional activity has earned him various awards and honors.

Guillermo Castro Herrera, a Panamanian researcher and humanist, has been an Associate Academic Director of FCDS since 2000. His executive background includes positions as head of the Gorgas Commemorative Institute for Health Studies (1997­1999) and as Technical Secretary for the Panamanian Social Cabinet (1995­1997).

He has a master’s degree and a PhD in Latin American Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM). He is also a graduate from Universidad del Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, where he got a degree in Letters.

Dr. Castro is President of the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Environmental History, 2006­2010; a member of the Advisory Committee of the International Sustainable Development Center; associate researcher, "Justo Arosemena" Center for Latin American Studies, Panama; associate researcher, Political Ecology Workgroup, Latin American Council of Social Sciences; associate researcher, Hegemonies and Emancipations Workgroup, Latin American Council of Social Sciences.

Isabel Cristina Donato Miranda works for FCDS as a Project Manager in the Academic Department. She graduated in psychology from Santa María la Antigua University, and has a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

Donato Miranda counseled young offenders as part of her professional practice in the Legal Psychology Department of the Legal Medicine Institute. She is an active member of the Panamanian Association of Psychologists, and is in charge of planning monthly educational workshops.