Biography

Lourdes J Cruz obtained a Bachelor of Science in chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1962 and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Iowa in 1968. She worked at the International Rice Research Institute before moving to the University of the Philippines in 1970. Her awards include the Sven Brohult Award (1993), the ASEAN Outstanding Scientist and Technologist Award (2001) and the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award (2010).

She is a founding member and second president of the Philippine Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and was member and chair of the ICSU Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific from 2012 to 2018. In 2001 she established a program to harness science and technology to help alleviate poverty in poor rural communities and indigenous tribes in Bataan through conservation, reforestation and bio-resource management. Her newest project is on establishing a Future Earth Philippines program for sustainability.