Vesta Richardson

Mexico, Ministry of Health

Vesta Richardson is a pediatrician and the Minister of Health for the State of Morelos in Mexico. Previously, she served as general director of the National Center for Child and Adolescent Health in the Mexican Ministry of Health, which works to decrease infant mortality through Mexico’s Immunization Program and the National Immunization Council.

Dr. Richardson has conducted seminal research on rotavirus vaccines. She co-authored a study on the impact of rotavirus vaccination on diarrhea mortality in Mexican children and in a separate study, examined the risk of intussusceptions risk and health benefits of the rotavirus vaccination in Mexico and Brazil.

From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Richardson was medical director of the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez. In 2003, she founded the Clínica Londres Cuernavaca and in 1995, she founded and directed the Hospital del Niño Morelense in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Dr. Richardson was the director of the University of Baja California Pediatric Residency Program for six years. She also served as co-director of the Boston University Residency Program for three years and as the director of the University of Morelos Pediatric Residency Program for seven years.

She has published more than 40 scientific papers in specialized journals and books. Dr. Richardson has given dozens of lectures, coordinated several panel discussions and has been invited as a consultant and member of numerous evaluation committees.

Dr. Richardson earned her MD at La Salle University Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1980. Her medical experience and pediatric skills were acquired at the Hospital Infantil de México and the Hospital General de México. She completed her pediatric residency at Boston City Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.