Dr. Paola E. Ordóñez obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, her master’s degree in chemistry, and her Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry both from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA. She has been an instructor of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Sede Ibarra. In addition, she has performed administrative functions as a Research Coordinator at PUCE-Ibarra and Associate Editor of the Axioma Scientific Journal, indexed to Latindex. In In January 2020, she joined the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at Yachay Tech University, where she teaches courses related to Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering, General Chemistry, and Chemistry of Natural Products. Her main research interest is the use of plants as sources of lead compounds for drug discovery. Her current research intends to identify new lead compounds with cytotoxic and/or antibacterial activity as scaffolds for the development of effective drugs for the treatment of these diseases. She has co-authored scientific articles, book chapters, and international patents related to the development of bioactive compounds. Currently, she has active collaborations in Drug Discovery and Phytopharmaceuticals with groups in the USA, Europe and Ecuador.