I am a Chilean astrophysicist working in the Instituto de Física at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso (PUCV). My main research interest is on the connection between the intergalactic medium (IGM) and galaxies, in the context of the large-scale structure of the Universe. I am mainly focused on how this relationship depends on cosmic environment (voids, filaments, groups, clusters), and cosmic time (early and late Universe). Ultimately, I wish to test the current cosmological paradigm prediction that baryonic matter follows the cosmic web shaped by dark matter and dark energy.

I obtained my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Astronomy at Universidad de Chile; my M.Sc. thesis was on Absorption systems in optical spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) afterglows, under supervision of Prof. Sebastian Lopez. Then I moved to the UK, where I obtained my Ph.D. degree in Astrophysics at University of Durham; my Ph.D. thesis was on The relationship between the intergalactic medium and galaxies under supervision of Prof. Simon L. Morris and Prof. Tom Theuns. My first postdoctoral position was at the University of California, Santa Cruz where I worked in close collaboration with Prof. J Xavier Prochaska and the IMPS group. I then moved back to Chile, for my second postdoctoral position at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics being hosted by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. In 2017, I moved to Valparaíso as a faculty at PUCV where I have been working towards developing astronomy and astrophysics as part of its Instituto de Física.

During my professional career, I have been the PI on multiple world-class telescope projects, including five on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and several on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), Gemini, Magellan, among others. In 2021, I received the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize as co-author of the paper “A single fast radio burst localized to a massive galaxy at cosmological distance” published in Science.