del Pino is emeritus professor of biological sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE). After obtaining her PhD at Emory University, del Pino returned to Ecuador in 1972 and has since worked at PUCE. Her honours include: an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1984-85), a diploma from the World Wildlife Fund for the Education for Conservation in the Galapagos Islands (1986); the L'Oreal/UNESCO Award For Women in Science (2000); the Sheth Distinguished International Emory Alumni Award (2003); the TWAS Medal (2005); the Eugenio Espejo Prize in the Sciences, Govt. of Ecuador (2012), and the 2019 Prize of The Latin American Society for Developmental Biology (LASDB). She is hon. foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences, hon. foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and founding member of the Ecuador Academy of Sciences.

Baran was educated at National U. of La Plata (UNLP): he obtained his Licenciado (chemistry) in 1964 and doctorate (chemistry) in 1967. He was a member of the Research Career (1970-2012, Investigador Superior since 1993), Natl. Research Council, Argentina. His previous positions include: Asst., assoc. and full prof. of inorganic chemistry, UNLP (1970-2005); visiting prof. in European and Latin American universities; and natl. representative, IUPAC. Honorary Professor, National U. of Tucuman. He is a member of editorial boards of intl. publications. His awards include: R.A. Labriola-Prize; Konex Foundation Platinum Prize; H.J. Schumacher-Prize, Natl. Acad. of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, Argentina (ANCEFN); TWAS Award in Chem.; Cincuentenario Prize, Natl. Acad. for the Adv. of Sciences, Argentina; and Horacio Damianovich Prize in Inorganic Chem.. He is a member of ANCEFN, Argentina.

Barbosa is professor in the Departamento de Matematica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do PICI, Fortaleza, Brazil. A well known mathematician and expert in differential geometry, he has made outstanding contributions to the stability of minimal immersions of surfaces in the Euclidean space, and towards precise, simple conditions to decide when critical points for the variational problem of minimizing area are minimal. He has been awarded the Medal of Scientific Merit of Brazil, is fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Academy Cearense of Sciences, and is a member of the Brazilian and American Mathematical Societies and the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science. He was, for two terms, the president of the Brazilian Mathematical Society. Recently he became Professor Emeritus and President of the Ethics Commission of the Universidade Federal do Ceará.

Sial is full professor (retired, 2012; Emeritus Professor, 2016) in the Department of Geology, Federal U. of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). He obtained his PhD from UC Davis (1974) and did postdoctoral work at the U. of Texas at Austin (1977-78), U. of Georgia at Athens (entire 1983, entire 1988) and U. of Wisconsin (2001). He also trained in Portugal, Canada, Japan and Scotland. He founded a Laboratory for Stable Isotope Studies at UFPE, only one in South America with facilities to analyze O isotopes from silicates, and pioneered the use of isotope stratigraphy in S. America. He has received several honours including: Silver Hammer and José Bonifacio Golden Medals (Brazilian Geological Society); Centennial Medal, Engineering School, UFPE; National Order of Scientific Merit commendator and Grao Cruz classes (by President of Brazil decree); special foreign member, Society of Resource Geology, Japan; and foreign member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Portugal.

Rolz-Asturias was educated at the U. de San Carlos, Guatemala and UC Berkeley. He is Director, Biochemical Engineering Center, Research Inst., U. del Valle de Guatemala. His previous positions include: Research scientist, Central American Research Inst. for Industry (ICAITI) (1965-69); head, Applied Research Division (1969-89); coordinator and prof., Center for Science and Technology Studies (CECT), ICAITI (1989-94); head and principal scientist, Science and Technology Unit (UCT), ICAITI (1994-96); vice president, Guatemalan Acad. of Sciences (1993-96); Dean, Research Inst., U. del Valle de Guatemala (1997-2000, 2004-09); and lecturer at San Carlos University (1965-80), Rafael Landivar U. (1985-90) and Del Valle University (1985-90). He has been awarded the Guatemala Science and Technology Medal in 2000. He is fellow, Guatemalan Acad. of Sciences and the Latin American Acad. of Sciences.

Campos de Carvalho was Director of the Department of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Health in Brazil. He was scientific director of the National Cardiology Institute and is Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He graduated in medicine and obtained his PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He did postdoctoral work at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he now holds a visiting position as Professor. He received 3 national prizes from the Brazilian Federation of Experimental Biology Societies and the Heart Institute (Incor) Prize for his work on cell therapies in cardiac diseases. He was a Fogarty Fellow and is a fellow of the American Heart Association. He was in the Council of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (2009-2013) and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 200 papers in indexed journals, edited 3 books and 25 book chapters. He tutored 81 master, PhD and post-doctoral students

Salzano is emeritus professor, Genetics Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He obtained his PhD at the University of São Paulo and has done postgraduate work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. His career at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul included all levels up to full professorship and important administrative positions. His honours include: three National Prizes; inclusion in the National Order of Scientific Merit, Great Cross Class, Brazil; Ibero-American Society of Human Genetics and Human Biology Association Prizes (both from the USA); and Honorary Citizenship, Porto Alegre. He is a member of the Brazilian, Chilean, Latin American and US academies of science, Doctor Honoris Causa, Universities of Toulouse and Costa Rica, and served in the boards of several Brazilian, Latin American, and international scientific societies.

Seade obtained his BSc from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1976 and his MSc in 1977 and his DPhil in 1980 at the University of Oxford. He is professor at, and currently Director of the Mathematics Institute, UNAM, in Mexico. He is known for his admirable research in the topology of real and complex singularities, either of spaces or of vector fields and foliations. He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.

De Mello obtained his BSc in biochemistry in 1968, MD in 1972, MSc in biophysics in 1973 and PhD in 1980. He is professor of biophysics at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho since 1993 and head of the Laboratory of Neurochemistry since 1982. He was previously: Fogarty visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health from 1973-76; assistant professor, vice director, and director at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho between 1978-97; research associate professor at Northwestern University between 1984-86; and Guggenheim fellow in 1984. He was awarded the Gustavo Lessa Award from the Brazilian-American Institute in 1982. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Latin American Academy of Sciences. In April 2015 he became Emeritus Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.