UNIVERSIDAD PERUANA CAYETANO HEREDIA

Their core work

Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) is a leading Peruvian university with strong expertise in tropical medicine, infectious diseases, and public health research in Latin America. They contribute field-level clinical and epidemiological expertise to international health consortia, particularly in areas like Zika virus response and alcohol/mental health interventions in primary care settings. Their work bridges global health research with on-the-ground implementation in Peru and across Latin American municipalities. They also participate in bioinformatics research on protein structure and repeat protein classification.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UPCH's early H2020 involvement (2016-2017) centered on infectious disease response and public health scale-up in Latin American primary care, reflecting their traditional strength in tropical medicine and community health. Their more recent participation (2019) in REFRACT — a bioinformatics project on protein structure and repeat protein databases — signals a broadening into computational biology. This shift suggests growing capacity in data-driven life sciences alongside their established fieldwork expertise.

UPCH appears to be expanding from purely field-based public health work toward computational and data-intensive life science research, which could make them a versatile partner for projects combining clinical fieldwork with bioinformatics.

How they like to work

UPCH exclusively joins projects as a participant or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project. They operate in large consortia (77 unique partners across 24 countries), suggesting they are valued as regional experts who bring Latin American field access and clinical networks to European-led initiatives. Their role is that of a specialist contributor providing ground-level implementation capacity rather than driving project design.

UPCH has collaborated with 77 unique partners across 24 countries, indicating a broad international network despite their relatively small project count. Their partnerships span Europe and Latin America, reflecting their role as a bridge institution connecting EU research with Latin American field sites.

What sets them apart

UPCH is one of Peru's top research universities and a rare Latin American partner in H2020 consortia, offering direct access to clinical populations, tropical disease environments, and primary care systems across Peru and the broader Andean region. For any EU consortium needing field sites, patient cohorts, or implementation capacity in Latin America, UPCH is an established and trusted entry point. Their combination of tropical medicine heritage and emerging bioinformatics capacity is uncommon for a South American institution in the H2020 landscape.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SCALA
  Largest funded project (EUR 306,750) — a multi-country quasi-experimental study scaling mental health interventions across municipalities in Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.
• ZIKAlliance
  Part of a major global response consortium for Zika virus, demonstrating UPCH's role in rapid-response infectious disease research networks.
• REFRACT
  An unexpected pivot into protein bioinformatics and database development, signaling diversification beyond UPCH's traditional public health focus.