Eliana Icochea, the UNMSM professor who busted the myths and barrier of machismo

UNMSM Professor Maria Eliana Icochea spoke to GlobeLiveMedia. She appears to be a simple university professor who loves her job and the contact with new generations. However, she has dedicated more than 40 years of her life to avian pathology, a pioneer in this branch of veterinary in Peru. Maria Eliana is the head teacher at the San Marcos National University School of Veterinary Medicine, and her vitality has infected several generations of vets in the country to become good professionals and better people. GlobeLiveMedia went to look for her at home (almost) at the Faculty to get to know her better on International Women’s Day. The conversation ended up being a masterclass in how to live this life: with intensity and love for what you do.

Throughout life, a person can change many things, such as home, religion, or partner, but what we will never change is passion, which cannot be taught, because we are born with it. Despite the paths of life taking us on different paths, fate will direct us on our path. Eliana Icochea was influenced by her parents Pedro Alfonso and Olga Graciela from an early age. Her father was also a doctor and became the director of Rebagliati Hospital and the military hospital, and it was he who encouraged little Maria Eliana, born on December 24, 1950, to choose medicine, veterinary medicine, or agronomy.

Her mother was a bird lover, and Maria Eliana chose to dedicate the best years of her life to those little birds. After completing her education in a convent school, Maria Eliana applied and entered the San Marcos National University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Not only did a world of possibilities open up to her, but she also felt like she was in paradise. She did her thesis on birds and became a head teacher over time.

Dr. Icochea shares that when she was a student, three other girls accompanied her on a room that had more than 20 men. With the inexorable passage of time, this proportion was equalized first, so that later the female sex came to dominate. In the last promotion, there were 14 women and only five men. Despite the vicissitudes that may have affected her life, Dr. Icochea believes that she has always been very lucky during her career. She knows that not all women, regardless of their job, will have them all with them, and the only thing that will really help them is hard work.

One of the evils that Peruvian society experiences is machismo and misogyny. Although the gap has narrowed, there is still a lot to do in this regard. Big brands in the poultry industry always look to Dr. Icochea to recommend qualified personnel to work with them. She acknowledges that she often asks if it can be a woman, but they tell her “no” and prefer men. In this sense, women have disadvantages just for being women.

Dr. Icochea also had a veterinarian husband who always supported her in each of the projects she undertook. She says that it would have been better if he had left her at home instead of sharing life with an independent woman like her. Now she has time to spend with her three children, working at the university, and doing sports.