Óscar Camilo Salgado Barrero

Quiero Estudiar is a perfect example of social mobility – a way of redistributing opportunities and a way of reducing the social gap that we have in Colombia. I am very thankful to the donors and to the Universidad de los Andes for having given me this opportunity.

I was awarded the best Icfes grade in my school, which allowed me to apply for the Quiero Estudiar scholarship in the Universidad de los Andes and study microbiology. I have always been interested in this field; I remember that ever since I was at school, when they showed us some of Manuel Elkin Patarroyo´s work, I could see myself researching, and I wanted to find cures for diseases.

To be a Universidad de los Andes alumni is a source of great pride. To study here has been one of the best stages of my life. I remember, for example, that thanks to having the second highest average of all the Quiero Estudiar beneficiaries, I was awarded a scholarship to go in France for five weeks to study several electives in Paris. It was a very enriching experience for me.

When I graduated from the university I went to Germany to do a Master´s in the Molecular Biology of Cancer. After completing this, I spent a year and a half as a research assistant working on a cancer immunology research project with the Universität Zürich.

Today I support Quiero Estudiar through the University of the Andes foundation. Also, my girlfriend and I finance the studies of an outstanding boy from the Colegio Santa Ana de Fontibón - the school that we both attended.