Registered Nurse from the University of Valparaíso (2007), with a Master’s degree in Nursing from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (2012) and a Master’s in Supportive and Palliative Care for Oncology Patients from San Jorge University, Spain (2019). Since March 2022, I have been undertaking a PhD in Health Sciences at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where I am developing a research line focused on alleviating spiritual suffering in palliative care.

I am currently an Associate Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile, where I have coordinated the Gerontogeriatric Nursing course for fourth-year nursing students for the past five years. I have been an active member of the Scientific Society of Palliative Nursing (SOCEP) since 2022.

I currently serve as Deputy Director of the BICI project (Bidirectional Commitment in Innovation), titled Manual de Cuidados NENA. I am also a founding member of the Chilean Nursing Network for Spiritual Care (RENFCE).

My professional development includes several international experiences, such as a volunteering placement at the Centro de Cuidados Laguna Hospital in Madrid, supporting patients and families in palliative care and collaborating in training programmes (2017–2018). I have completed clinical placements at Clínica Familia (Chile), at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra with the palliative medicine team led by Dr Carlos Centeno (Spain), and at the San Camilo Palliative Care Unit in Tres Cantos (Spain).

In the research field, I have conducted studies related to palliative care and spiritual care, contributing as an author to scientific publications and presenting findings at national and international conferences.

My research interests have evolved from a career dedicated to supporting people living with advanced illness, university teaching, and the deep understanding of human suffering. In recent years, my work has focused particularly on the study of spiritual suffering in palliative care, exploring its nature, its expressions, and the real possibilities that nursing has to alleviate it. This motivation has led to concept analyses, phenomenological investigations, and scoping reviews aimed at understanding how spiritual care can be rigorously and compassionately integrated into clinical practice.

In parallel, I have delved into philosophical frameworks, particularly Heideggerian phenomenology, to better understand the experience of “being-in-the-world” in advanced illness and at the end of life.

Another key area of my research involves the training of nursing students and professionals in palliative care. I am interested in understanding how they learn, how they reflect, and how they develop both clinical and human competencies that enable them to care with dignity and compassion. This includes the study of formative experiences, pedagogical innovations, and reflective learning environments.

Finally, I am committed to developing and implementing nursing interventions aimed at people receiving palliative care and their family caregivers, particularly in the context of ageing and end-of-life care. Through this work, I seek to strengthen the caregiving role and improve the quality of care delivered in the home.

My academic teaching has been developed primarily at the Universidad de los Andes (UANDES), where I serve as an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. For the past five years, I have coordinated the Gerontogeriatric Nursing course for fourth-year nursing students, leading curriculum design, supervising clinical placements, and implementing active teaching methodologies aimed at strengthening clinical, ethical and person-centred competencies in the care of older adults. As an extension of this course, I also teach in the UANDES Caregivers’ School, a service-learning initiative designed to train family caregivers in health-related topics and self-care.

In addition, I teach qualitative research content in the Research course for third-year students, and I participate in teaching within the Nursing and Ageing course and the End-of-Life Care course, integrating aspects of spiritual suffering, therapeutic communication, and palliative care. I have further contributed to advanced training as a tutor in the Diploma in Palliative Care for Adults and Older Adults (2021).

At the international level, I have taught at the School of Nursing of the University of São Paulo (USP), delivering classes in the elective course Nursing Care in Palliative Oncology for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as in the course Palliative Care in Adult and Older Adult Health for nurses enrolled in the Residency Programme in Adult and Older Adult Health.

Finally, I serve as Deputy Director of the BICI project Manual de Cuidados NENA.