Center for
Global Health

International Scholar

Languages: Spanish (native), English (fluent), German (basic)

Bio statement

Erwin Calgua, MD, MSc is a Tenured Research Professor and Director of Research at the School of Medicine of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, the largest public university in Guatemala. He also holds research management positions at Sanatorio El Pilar, the oldest private hospital in Guatemala, and at Stem Care, a stem cell biotechnology company. Dr. Calgua holds a medical degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he trained as a Fogarty International Center Fellow.

Dr. Calgua's collaborative research spans a broad range of topics including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), violence, malnutrition, adolescent health, stem cells, HIV, and medical ethics — all with the aim of improving clinical practice and informing public health policy in low- and middle-income countries. His primary research includes the planning, execution, and analysis of the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance (STEPS) in the Metropolitan Area of Guatemala. His secondary data research draws on the largest datasets from the National Mother and Child Survey to examine the interactions among malnutrition, violence, and NCDs in populations of vulnerable women and children.

Grounded in the belief that rigorous, ethically sound research can meaningfully improve the wellbeing of vulnerable individuals and communities, Dr. Calgua has dedicated his career to developing research initiatives, training programs, and new areas of inquiry across biomedicine, clinical medicine, and biotechnology in Guatemala. His work reflects a sustained commitment to advancing global health through collaborative, locally rooted scholarship, and to sharing findings that strengthen health systems and inform policy in resource-limited settings.

Recent global health projects

The most recent study was related to Short Term Medical Missions (STMM´s) in Guatemala. I was able to explore and describe: 1. Regulations about STMM, and 2. Perspective from the users of STMMs. This study was funded by Leight University, and from my group, there were a total of three publications. Two that we describe bellow and one about Global Health Partnerships and the Brocher Declaration: Principles for Ethical Short-Term Engagements in Global Health.

The second project has been with students from the University of Michigan, developing medical devices. Here converges Global Health and Global Engineering, and we have been able to develop a prototype which aims to prevent pressure ulcers in hospitalized. We have been able to test the prototype and are in the final process to have the product. In addition, with the same group we are working now in a ventilator.

Selected publications

Mantey EE, Maractho E, Calgua‑Guerra E, Doh D, Zea‑Flores G, López C, Alang S, Donkor P, Lasker JN. Host Country Views of Short‑Term Medical Missions: Community‑Based Research in Ghana, Uganda, and Guatemala. Annals of Global Health. Ubiquity Press, 2026;92(1): 12-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4951   https://reference-global.com/article/10.5334/aogh.4951

Calgua-Guerra, E., Mantey, E.E., Maractho, E.C., Doh, D., Zea-Flores, G., Lopez, C., Alang, S., Donkor, P., Rowthorn, V. and Lasker, J.N. (2025) ‘Host Country Regulation of Short‑Term Medical Missions: Evidence from Three Countries’, <i>Annals of Global Health</i>, 91(1), p. 80. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4896. https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4896

Mental health of Guatemalan health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: baseline findings from the HEROES cohort study: Paniagua-Ávila A, Ramírez DE, Barrera-Pérez A, Calgua E, Castro C, Peralta-García A, Mascayano F, Susser E, Alvarado R, Puac-Polanco V. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2022 Aug 17;46:e79. doi: 10.26633/RPSP.2022.79. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35990526

Years of Potential Life Lost Because of Breast and Cervical Cancers in Guatemala Alba J Kihn-Alarcón 1, Juan F Alvarado-Muñoz 2, Loida I Orozco-Fuentes 3, Erwin Calgua-Guerra 1 4, Vicky Fuentes-de Falla 1, Angel Velarde 1 4
Affiliations expand PMID: 32484750 PMCID: PMC7328121 DOI:10.1200/JGO.19.00398

Prasad S, Aldrink M, Compton B, Lasker J, Donkor P, Weakliam D, et al.. Global Health Partnerships and the Brocher Declaration: Principles for Ethical Short-Term Engagements in Global Health. Annals of Global Health. 2022;88(1):31. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3577
 

Golub SA, Maza Reyes JC, Stamoulis C, Leal Pensabene A, Tijerino Cordon PA, Calgua E, Hassan A. Guatemala City youth: an analysis of health indicators through the lens of a clinical registry. Int Health. 2018 Nov 14. doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihy081

Bream KDW, Breyre A, Garcia K, Calgua E, Chuc JM, Taylor L (2018) Diabetes prevalence in rural Indigenous Guatemala: A geographic-randomized cross-sectional analysis of risk. PloS ONE 13(8):e0200434. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200434

Maza JC, Stamoulis C, Teich H, Golub S, Calgua E, Hassan A. Evaluating Adolescent Health Training in Guatemala. Journal of Adolescent Health. Vol 62: Number 2S: February 2018, S32-S32

Golub S, Maza JC, Reyes A, Teich H, , Calgua E, Hassan A. Perspectives on the Use of a Health Surveillance System for Guatemalan Youth: A stakeholder analysis. Journal of Adolescent Health. Vol 62: Issue 2: February 2018, S26-S27

Last Updated: 18 May 2026