León, Gto., September 22, 2017.- Juan Pablo Rivera Gómez, a student of the first semester of the degree in Medical Surgeon of the University of Guanajuato (UG), Campus León, obtained the silver medal in the XI Spanish American Biology Olympics, where 41 students from 12 countries participated.

The contest was held in Portugal, in the city of Ponta Delgada, isle of San Miguel of Archipelago de las Azores, from September 11 to 14 this year. The contest had the participation of students from Cuba, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Perú, among others.

The participants had written and practical exams focused on topics of marine ecology, molecular biology, anatomy, and vegetable physiology; in addition of a knowledge test about concepts of cellular biology, genetics, evolution and biology in general.

Juan Pablo Romero had to go through the different competences and filters so he could participate in the IX Spanish American Biology Olympics. In October 2016, while he was in high school, he participated in the state eliminatory obtaining the fourth place, which granted him the pass to the national contest where he also obtained the fourth place.

Afterwards, the 14 participants with the best score went train in the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the National Medical Center in Mexico City, stage where they selected the four representatives who will go the Olympiad in Portugal.

In an interview, Juan Pablo commented on the importance of participating in this kind of events since it allows to know people with other culture and strengthen their knowledge. "These experiences help you know yourself, to know your limits, this is how far I want to go or these are my goals, also, it helps you know people from other cultures both nationally and internationally."

Likewise, he expressed the importance of having knowledge in biology, "the focus of biology is that it helps you know about the different reigns and have a general view of the world, to really know where you live and each microorganism is essential for the world to function", he indicated.