Virginia joined the MiKTMC laboratory in August of 2019, following several years of collaboration with the laboratory, through her previous PI, Dr. Matthew Sampson. She is currently utilizing her knowledge of kidney disease for work in biomarker validation and the culturing of kidney organoids. Virginia has worked in area of Nephrology at the University of Michigan since 2001. Over the course of 19 years she has worked with Dr. William Smoyer (Associate Professor, Pediatrics) working with cultured podocytes and with Dr. Matthew G. Sampson (Assistant Professor, Pediatrics), Dr. Hildebrandt (Professor, Pediatrics) and Dr. Edgar Otto (Assistant Professor, Pediatrics), performing mutational analysis in patients with kidney diseases (Nephrotic Syndrome ), in an attempt to determine new, and as yet unknown genetic mutations. The eventual goal being to develop highly specific and less invasive treatments, in what could become Patient-Specific, Personalized Medicine.

Virginia received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science from Michigan State University. Following this, Virginia did two Post-Doctorial Fellowships, one at MSU and the second at the University of Michigan Medical School. She received her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from her native country of Nicaragua.