María Andrea Gatica Escobar MD

Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist, dedicated to the care of pediatric patients with complicated infectious diseases, with an interest in both inpatient care and outpatient follow-up. Interested in the control of hospital-acquired infections. Expert in vaccinology, with experience in implementing vaccination policies and introducing new vaccines. Professional speaker. I am also committed to clinical research in pediatric infectious diseases.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Development and Validation of Multivariable Machine‐Learning Models for the Prediction of Multisystemic Inflammatory Syndrome Outcomes in Latin American Children

Acta Paediatrica

2025-09 | Journal article

DOI: 10.1111/apa.70290

• Impact of social determinants of health on the outcomes of Latin American children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS‐C)

Pediatric Pulmonology

2025-01 | Journal article

DOI: 10.1002/ppul.27313

• Macrophage Activation Syndrome in MIS-C

Pediatrics

2024-11 | Journal article |

DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-066780

• Clinical Presentation and Outcomes of Kawasaki Disease in Children From Latin America: A Multicenter Observational Study from the REKAMLATINA Network

The Journal of Pediatrics

2023-02 | Journal article |

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.02.001

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

• Forum of vaccines Policies. Latin American Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Chile, November 2025
• RSV Epidemiology in Guatemala, Public Policy Forum on RSV, Chile, November 2024
• Respiratory syncytial virus among children under 5 years of age with viral acute lower respiratory infections in Guatemala, IDWeek Congress of the American Pediatric Infectious Diseases Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, January 10, 2014
• An Outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia in a Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit, IDWeek Congress of the American Pediatric Infectious Diseases Association, San Francisco, California, United States, January 10, 2013
• Burkholderia cepacia Outbreak in a Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit, SLIPE 2013 Congress of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 6, 2013.

• Active member of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) Ministery of Health Guatemala, from 2020 to the present
• Member of REKAMLATINA Network, Latin America Network 2018 to the present
• Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 2021 to present
• Central American Association of Infectious Diseases, 2017 to present
• Guatemalan Clinical Research Association, 2017 to present
• Guatemalan Association of Infectious Diseases, 2015 to present
• Guatemalan Pediatric Association, 2012 to present