Nitza Margarita Cintrón is a Puerto Rican scientist and Chief of Space Medicine and Health Care Systems Office at National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s Johnson Space Center.
Background
Cintrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the capital city of the island. As a child, she traveled throughout Europe because her father was a member of the United States. Army. When her father retired from the armed forces, they returned to Puerto Rico and settled down in Santurce, a section of San Juan.
Education
There she attended elementary and high school, where she excelled in science and mathematics. In 1972 she was accepted into the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology training program offered by The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and in 1978 she earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree there.
Career
She dedicated many hours to reading and studying about biology, chemistry, astronomy and space. Cintrón enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico where she earned a bachelor"s degree in Biology. In 1978, Cintrón read a recruitment announcement for the first Mission Specialist positions in the Astronaut Corps while still completing her Doctor of Philosophy research work at Johns Hopkins University.
She answered the advertisement and passed to the finals.
However, she was not selected because of her poor eyesight. However, her academic credentials impressed the management at National Aeronautics and Space Administration and she was offered a position at National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a scientist
In 1979, Cintrón was the originator of the center"s Biochemistry Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center. During the years 1979 through 1985, she also served as project scientist for the Space Laboratory 2 mission which was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985.
After many years of service at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, she was sponsored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration after she was accepted as a student by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
She graduated in 1995 with a Doctor of Medicine degree, and is currently a board-certified specialist in internal medicine. Among the positions held by Cintrón at National Aeronautics and Space Administration are "Chief of the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch in the Medical Science Division" and "Managing Director of the Life Sciences Research Laboratories" in support of medical operations. In 2004 she was named "Chief of National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s (Joint-stock company) Space Medicine and Health Care Systems Office", position which she currently holds.