FISPEVEN (Foundation for Clinic, Public Health, and Epidemiology Research in Venezuela) is a Venezuelan non-profit research organization established to administrate, support, coordinate, and implement research projects focused on clinical, epidemiological, and public health issues. In collaboration with local and international institutions, FISPEVEN was founded in 2013 by Venezuelan physicians and researchers and chaired by Dr. Maria Ines Marulanda. 

The organization’s inaugural project, EVESCAM (Venezuelan Study for Cardiometabolic Health), was the first nationally representative study to assess cardiometabolic risk factors in 3,420 adults across the country’s eight regions, conducted from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Ramfis Nieto-Martinez was the Principal Investigator (PI) and Dr. Maria Ines Marulanda was the Co-PI. With this project, FISPEVEN has become a partner of diverse research consortiums, including Global Health and Population Project on Access to Care for Cardiometabolic Diseases (HPACC), the Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean (CC-LAC), the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), and METRICS – an International Consortium of Cardiometabolic Research. 

Following EVESCAM, FISPEVEN coordinated a follow-up evaluation involving 1,257 adults to examine the impact of the humanitarian crisis during 2018-2019. This follow-up was also led by Dr. Nieto-Martinez and was supported by the Lown Scholar Program and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

In 2021-2022, the project “HITS Diabetes with Prevention”, a pragmatic trial, was implemented at a community healthcare center to evaluate the effectiveness of two Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) interventions. This project was led by Dr. Juan Pablo Gonzalez-Rivas and funded by the Lown Scholar Program.

Dr. Gonzalez-Rivas oversees the implementation of two ongoing projects funded by the Lown Scholar Program: “Evaluation of the Implementation of the HEARTS package in the Andes of Venezuela” and “Misinformation in Cardiovascular Health”.

Additionally, under the leadership of Dr. Maritza Duran and Dr. Eunice Ugel, FISPEVEN is collaborating with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Venezuelan Society of Internal Medicine to implement the HEARTS package in underserved populations in rural areas (More here). So far, 300 patients with hypertension have been included in the project across four states in the country. FISPEVEN is a partner of the Health Clusters of Venezuela, where it obtained the endorsement to execute this proposal.

In 2022, FISPEVEN collaborated with international NGOs to establish baselines and process data for reports and results. For Save the Children, they conducted a Gender Analysis to identify gender gaps, barriers, risks, contextual situations, potential conflicts, and other conditions that could disproportionately impact men, women, boys, girls, and adolescents in areas where Save the Children operates. From 2022 to 2023, FISPEVEN partnered with the Humanitarian Assistance Consortium in Venezuela (CONAHVE), led by COOPI, to develop baseline data in the sectors of Protection, Health, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), and Food Security. This initiative aimed to ensure that activities targeted the most vulnerable populations in Venezuela. Dr. Eunice Ugel led both projects