Amador Goodridge, PhD

Lines of investigation:

  • Human and animal tuberculosis
  • Perinatal infections
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Nutrition
  • Water quality

Resume summary:

  • Doctor of Philosophy with specialization in Infectious Diseases and Immunity (Ph.D.), University of California at Berkeley, United States of America
  • Diploma in Project Management, Florida State University, Panama Campus.
  • Master of Science with specialization in Biotechnology (M.Sc.), Universidad Santa María La Antigua (USMA), Panama
  • Graduate in Medical Technology, University of Panama, Panama

He has a degree in Medical Technology from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Panama. He also holds a Master of Science with a Specialization in Biotechnology from the Universidad Santa María la Antigua, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Infectious Diseases and Immunity from the University of California at Berkeley, United States. He recently obtained a Diploma in Project Management from Florida State University at the City of Knowledge.

He has developed his professional career within the Ministry of Health, Social Security Fund, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and INDICASAT-AIP. He has also collaborated with government and non-government organizations in building scientific capacity for R&D. For more than 20 years he has carried out scientific research on human and animal tuberculosis. Additionally, he collaborates in antimicrobial resistance, nosocomial infections, perinatal infections, nutrition and water quality.

Selected publications:

Chavarria, K. A., Gonzalez, C. I., Goodridge, A., Saltonstall, K., & Nelson, K. L. (2023). Bacterial communities in a neotropical full-scale drinking water system including intermittent piped water supply, from sources to taps. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 9(11), 3019–3035. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EW00224A

Acosta, F., Saldaña, R., Miranda, S., Candanedo, D., Sambrano, D., Morán, M., Bejarano, S., Arriba, Y. D., Reigosa, A., Dixon, E. D., Atencio, M., Castillo, R., & Goodridge, A. (2023). Heterogeneity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains Circulating in Panama’s Western Region. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 109(4), 740–747. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.23-0039

Rios, M., Subinas, J., Delgado, C., Torres, E., Goodridge, A., & Cubilla-Batista, I. (2023). Dietary patterns, social determinants, and emotions during COVID-19 confinement in Panama: An online survey. Health Science Reports, 6(4), e1168. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.1168

GBD 2019 Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. (2022). Global mortality associated with 33 bacterial pathogens in 2019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 400(10369), 2221–2248. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02185-7

Herrera, T. T., Cubilla-Batista, I., Goodridge, A., & Pereira, T. V. (2022). Diagnostic accuracy of prenatal imaging for the diagnosis of congenital Zika syndrome: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Medicine, 9. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.962765

Torres-Atencio, I., Campble, A., Goodridge, A., & Martin, M. (2022). Uncovering the Mast Cell Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Frontiers in Immunology, 13. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.886044

Acosta, F., Vega, S., & Goodridge, A. (2022). Re: “Genotyping and Molecular Characterization of Fluoroquinolone’s Resistance Among Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Southwest of China” by Hu et al. Microbial Drug Resistance. https://doi.org/10.1089/mdr.2021.0289

Acosta, F., Fernández, P. L., & Goodridge, A. (2022). Do B-1 cells play a role in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing lineages? Virulence, 13(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2021.2003116

Vega, S., Acosta, F., Landires, I., Morán, M., Gonzalez, J., Pimentel-Peralta, G., Núñez-Samudio, V., & Goodridge, A. (2021). Phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of carbapenemase- and extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ozaenae clinical isolates within a hospital in Panama City. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease, 8, 20499361211054918. https://doi.org/10.1177/20499361211054918

GBD 2019 Tuberculosis Collaborators. (2022). Global, regional, and national sex differences in the global burden of tuberculosis by HIV status, 1990–2019: Results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 22(2), 222–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00449-7

Guardia, C. de la, Rangel, G., Villarreal, A., Goodridge, A., Fernández, P. L., & Lleonart, R. (2021). Development of in-house, indirect ELISAs for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-associated serology in COVID-19 patients in Panama. PLOS ONE, 16(9), e0257351. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257351

Villarreal, A., Rangel, G., Zhang, X., Wong, D., Britton, G., Fernandez, P. L., Pérez, A., Oviedo, D., Restrepo, C., Carreirra, M. B., Sambrano, D., Eskildsen, G. A., De La Guardia, C., Flores-Cuadra, J., Carrera, J.-P., Zaldivar, Y., Franco, D., López-Vergès, S., Zhang, D., … Goodridge, A. (2021). Performance of a Point of Care Test for Detecting IgM and IgG Antibodies Against SARS-CoV-2 and Seroprevalence in Blood Donors and Health Care Workers in Panama. Frontiers in Medicine, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.616106

López, A., Acosta, F., Sambrano, D., Tarajia, M., Navajas, S., Arias, F., Escobar, B., Ortis, P., Adames, F., & Goodridge, A. (2021). Direct Molecular Characterization of Acid-Fast Bacilli Smear of Nontuberculosis Mycobacterium Species Causing Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Guna Yala Region, Panama. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 105(3), 633–637. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.21-0096

Herrera, T. T., Cubilla-Batista, I., Britton, C. B., & Goodridge, A. (2021). Valores de referencia de la translucencia nucal en Panamá y su comparación con diferentes regiones del mundo. Clínica e Investigación En Ginecología y Obstetricia, 48(3), 100651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gine.2020.11.002

Torres-Atencio, I., Goodridge, A., & Vega, S. (2020). COVID-19: Panama stockpiles unproven drugs. Nature, 587(7835), 548–548. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03289-y

Acosta, F., Norman, A., Sambrano, D., Batista, V., Mokrousov, I., Shitikov, E., Jurado, J., Mayrena, M., Luque, O., Garay, M., Solís, L., Muñoz, P., Folkvardsen, D. B., Lillebaek, T., Pérez-Lago, L., Goodridge, A., & Viedma, D. G. de. (2021). Probable long-term prevalence for a predominant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clone of a Beijing genotype in Colon, Panama. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 68(4), 2229–2238. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.13875

Local Burden of Disease WaSH Collaborators.Mapping geographical inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation facilities in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17. The Lancet Global Health, 8(9), e1162–e1185. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30278-3

Rivas, N., Espinoza, M., Loban, A., Luque, O., Jurado, J., Henry-Hurtado, N., & Goodridge, A. (2020). Case Report: COVID-19 Recovery from Triple Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 103(4), 1597–1599. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0756

Gonzalez, C. I., Erickson, J., Chavarría, K. A., Nelson, K. L., & Goodridge, A. (2020). Household stored water quality in an intermittent water supply network in Panama. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 10(2), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2020.156

Whittington, R., Donat, K., Weber, M. F., Kelton, D., Nielsen, S. S., Eisenberg, S., Arrigoni, N., Juste, R., Sáez, J. L., Dhand, N., Santi, A., Michel, A., Barkema, H., Kralik, P., Kostoulas, P., Citer, L., Griffin, F., Barwell, R., Moreira, M. A. S., Slana, I., Koehler, H., Singh, S.V., Yoo, H.S., Chávez-Gris, G., Goodridge, A., … de Waard, J. H. (2019). Control of paratuberculosis: Who, why and how. A review of 48 countries. BMC Veterinary Research, 15(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-019-1943-4

Cubilla-Batista, I., Ruiz, N., Sambrano, D., Castillo, J., Quinzada, M. O. de, Gasteluiturri, B., & Goodridge, A.(2019). Overweight, Obesity, and Older Age Favor Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Household Contacts in Low Tuberculosis-Incidence Settings within Panama. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100(5), 1141–1144. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0927

Domínguez, J., Acosta, F., Pérez-Lago, L., Sambrano, D., Batista, V., Guardia, C. D. L., Abascal, E., Chiner-Oms, Á., Comas, I., González, P., Bravo, J., Cid, P. D., Rosas, S., Muñoz, P., Goodridge, A., & Viedma, D. G. de. (2019). Simplified Model to Survey Tuberculosis Transmission in Countries Without Systematic Molecular Epidemiology Programs—Volume 25, Number 3—March 2019—Emerging Infectious Diseases journal—CDC. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2503.181593

Rengifo-Herrera, C. del C., Reyes, J. C., Magaña, A. M., Acosta, F., Ponder, J., & Goodridge, A. (2019). Avian Mycobacteriosis in a Rescued Harpy Eagle from Darien Forest, Panama. Acta Scientiae Veterinariae, 47. https://doi.org/10.22456/1679-9216.96502

Current projects

2023 – 2025     Co-investigator. “Molecular characterization of nontuberculous mycobacteria in patients and in hospital tap water in the Province of Colón 2023-2025.” SENACYT, Project Code FIED23-07. Principal Investigator:  Fermín Acosta. Amount awarded:  50,000.00 USD.

Brief description of the project:  Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous and isolated from water and soil. NTM cause serious infections in immunosuppressed patients, the report of cases globally is increasing and is a cause for health concern. In Panama there is little information about it, therefore, its epidemiology is unknown. It is necessary to direct efforts in the identification of NTM during clinical diagnosis, since NTM can coexist with tuberculosis (TB) bacilli. This project seeks to characterize NTM strains, at a clinical level and in hospital waters in the Province of Colón with the aim of finding a possible route or focus of transmission-infection.

This project focuses efforts on the following goals of the Sustainable Development Goals for the country’s development: SDG 3 on health and well-being and SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation to achieve universal and equitable access to drinking water and improve quality of life .

2022 – 2024 Principal investigator. “Protocol validation for the detection of Mycobacterium Subs DNA. paratuberculosis by RT-PCR from stool and environmental samples. SENACYT, Project Code PFID-FID-2021-225. Amount awarded:  50,000.00 USD.

Brief description of the project:  Paratuberculosis (PTB), also known as Johne’s Disease, is a slowly developing infectious disease characterized by chronic diseases that affects a wide range of domestic and wild species. This disease is caused by the pathogen Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. It is currently an endemic disease worldwide, with high levels of prevalence and strong economic impact. Its importance in public health is due to the possible association with Crohn’s disease in humans. PTB is not recognized in the regions of our country and there is no information about the real situation of the disease in the livestock sector. This project seeks to guide national efforts to achieve sustainable development over time. It also seeks to offer an interdisciplinary approach to combat PTB, which integrates experts in epidemiology, biochemistry, infectology and bioinformatics to improve the quality of life of the Panamanian population.

2022 – 2023 Co-investigator. “Genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from the province of Colón between the years 2021-2022.” SENACYT, Project Code APY-NI-2022-03. Principal Investigator:  Daniela Candanedo. Amount awarded:  15,000.00 USD.

Brief description of the project:  Panama has a high average incidence of TB cases. Recently, in the province of Panama and Colón, a new TB surveillance model was implemented, which detailed the predominant presence of strains A (Beijing) and to a lesser extent the presence of strains B (Haarlem) and strains C (Latin American). -Mediterranean). This project sought to prospectively study the diversity of strains and the predominant lineages in the province of Colón using strains prospectively isolated in different hospital centers in the region.

2021 – 2023 Co-investigator. “Master’s Program in Environmental Microbiology of the University of Panama.” SENACYT, Project Code POS-2020-CoC-003. Principal Investigator:  Alex Martínez. Amount awarded:  250,000.00 USD.

Project for the development of an academic scientific master’s program, for the training of postgraduate students in full-time scientific research. This program seeks to generate high-performance professionals for the formulation and management of environmental microbiology projects, focused on microorganisms. To this end, students of this program are mentored and directed to complete their degree thesis on topics related to the lines of research mentioned above.

“Prospective cohort study to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of biomarkers in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and magnetic resonance imaging for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease in older Panamanian adults.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP, USMA, CSS, UNTHSC, Paitilla Hospital, Gustavo Nelson Collado Hospital.

“Association of infectious pathogens with cognitive impairment in older people in Panama.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP, USMA.

“Behavioral characterization in Sprague Dawley rats from the INDICASAT AIP colony with intracerebroventricular injection of Streptozotocin.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP

“Evaluation of behavioral phenotypes in animal models for the study of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP

“Evaluation of the regulation and function of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP

“Organic synthesis, molecular modeling and biological activity of novel Naringenin derivatives against alpha-synuclein.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP

“Study of the biological effect of synthetic molecules that modulate the inflammatory response and amyloid aggregation in Alzheimer’s Disease.” Entities: INDICASAT AIP.

Affiliations

  • Director of the Latin American Society of Tuberculosis and other Mycobacteriosis.
  • National Contact Point of the EU-LAC Foundation, Panama.
  • President of the Panamanian Anti-Tuberculosis Organization, Panama.
  • Member of the Scientific Technical Committee of the International Center for Sustainable Development (CIDES), in the City of Knowledge, Panama.
  • Member of the Advisory Committee of the City of Knowledge Foundation (FCDS), Panama.
  • Director of Future Scientist, California, United States of America.
  • Collaborator and instructor at the Sustainable Science Institute organization, San Francisco, California, United States of America.

Recognitions

  • Enid Cook Medal from Rodaniche, Rotary Club of Panama (2023).
  • Recognition of Honor, Social Security Fund, (2023)
  • Distinguished Researcher, National System of Researchers of Panama (2022).
  • Recognition of Honor, Panamanian Anti-Tuberculosis Organization – OPAT (2022).
  • Leadership, dedication and commitment, Panama Coordinating Mechanism, for the fight against Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV (2022).
  • Contribution to the HIV and Tuberculosis prevention response, IV Human Rights and Non-Discrimination Forum (2020).
  • Distinguished Researcher, National System of Researchers of Panama (2019).
  • Luis Pasteur Recognition, National College of Clinical Laboratories of Panama – (CONALAC) (2019).

amador-goodridge-1-1080

Amador Goodridge, PhD

Highest degree of education:              D., University of California at Berkeley, USA.

Category: Principal Investigator, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Tuberculosis Biomarkers Research Unit

National Research System (SIN) Level: Distinguished Researcher

Contact information: agoodridge@indicasat.org.pa, amadorgj@yahoo.com