Gabriela Asturias, Princess of Girona Award-winning doctor: "Misinformation fills the gaps left by the healthcare system."

Gabriela Asturias (Guatemala City, 30) speaks with equal ease about neuroscience and medicine as she does about artificial intelligence, hoaxes, and the right to information. She has combined all these passions in Alma, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed and perfected 100% in Guatemala over the last five years to answer questions about COVID-19, health, and vaccinations free of charge, and to facilitate access to health services in the Central American country. “People distrust the healthcare system because of the paternalistic model of 'I have all the information and no one else knows.' That no longer works. We are inquisitive, curious, and globalized human beings who ask Google or ChatGPT everything. If no one satisfies our curiosity with evidence, someone spreading myths on social media will,” Asturias says in an interview with EL PAÍS in Barcelona, where she will receive the International Princess of Girona Award in the Research category this Wednesday.

Alma, recognized in Guatemala for being a free digital guide during the pandemic, has continued to grow. The AI works on WhatsApp and is present on all social media , on a website , and in a call center. Next month, they will launch a mobile app. “As we speak,” adds the project leader, “the Guatemalan Ministry of Health is endorsing our pilot course on vaccines for healthcare professionals [which will be taught by an AI via WhatsApp].” But she also faces the challenge of battling health misinformation and the anti-vaccine trend. “Misinformation fills the gaps left by the healthcare system. Doctors were trained to provide one-on-one care in the office , but the new generation shares knowledge, opens networks, makes videos, refutes ideas, and explains topics. Understanding is key to restoring trust, because what is not understood is not believed,” she maintains.

Asturias immigrated to the US at the age of 18 to study Neuroscience at Duke University and then pursue a medical degree at Stanford University. “But I promised myself I would find a way to bring it all back to my country,” says the researcher, who currently lives in San Francisco, California. After completing her first year of Neuroscience, she contacted professors at Guatemalan universities to work on national projects. “I met Dr. David Boyd, who works in Global Health, and he taught me how to conduct research with community participation and social impact. Until then, I thought of research as something done in the laboratory,” she recalls. In the midst of that work, they had to raise funds for a study on the impact of chronic nutrition on the cognitive development of Guatemalan children and, due to bureaucratic issues, they ended up creating the Desarrolla Guatemala Foundation for Education and Health . By the age of 19, Asturias was already the leader of the Board of Directors. Since then, she has alternated her life as a doctor in the US—she currently consults at Stanford Hospital and is pursuing a specialization in Psychiatry—with projects in her country.

We are inquisitive, curious, and globalized human beings who ask Google or ChatGPT everything. If no one can satisfy our curiosity with evidence, someone spreading myths on social media will.

Gabriela Asturias, winner of the Princess of Girona Award

From that foundation and the network of alliances and funders they secured, Alma was born in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. “No one knew anything about COVID because we were discovering it as we were experiencing it. Scientific and clinical evidence was coming out every week. Alma became a source of information at that time to resolve common questions. And as the evidence continued to grow, Alma was updated,” she says. Everything worked with a chatbot —a program that, through AI, simulates a conversation with a human—via WhatsApp and Facebook. “On mobile phone plans in Guatemala, WhatsApp and Facebook don't use your internet data. The whole world is moving around it, and we joined in where the conversation was already taking place, where myths are being spread,” the Guatemalan woman says.

Alma's first objective was to translate scientific evidence into simple, understandable language; the second was to advise patients on where to go within the Guatemalan healthcare system if they needed access to PCR tests, healthcare, or vaccinations. "In Guatemala, much of the healthcare offering is not digitalized. If you search for the nearest healthcare center, there isn't always an answer on Google. Alma's magic formula was to combine clinical information with logistical information. It answers the what, where, when, and how people had," explains Asturias. In Guatemala, a country with 18 million inhabitants, there were once 1.2 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 20,000 deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) .

Alma had between 100,000 and 150,000 monthly users and expanded to multiple channels. They reached Instagram and what was then Twitter (today X); in 2021, they opened a call service that provided service in Spanish and five Mayan languages (Mam, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Q'eqchi', and Tz'utujil); and in 2022, they provided in-person support in seven municipalities. “It was a huge effort in rural and indigenous communities. But demand in Spanish continued to lead because our healthcare system is in Spanish, and people didn't believe care could be available in their language. It took us a lot of energy and money to position it,” she acknowledges.

After the pandemic, the goal has been to perfect AI in Spanish to provide information about other diseases and vaccinations. Alma, for example, is part of the Vaccine Safety Net , a network of websites certified by the WHO for offering truthful information about vaccines. “You decide to take care of your health and that of your loved ones based on the information you have,” says the doctor to justify her obsession with bringing scientific evidence to Guatemalans. “It's true that a doctor could answer your questions. But their time in consultation is limited, and they will prioritize diagnosing you and telling you the next steps in evaluation or treatment. Alma fills those gaps where a doctor can't cope. In the end, answering myths requires patience and empathy to understand that there are real fears,” she affirms. This project has earned Asturias recognition by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in Central America and as one of the 35 innovators under 35 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A new wave of hoaxes

After the pandemic, however, Alma has faced a drop in visits and an escalation of misinformation: from 100,000 monthly visits to a low of 10,000. “In 2022, we began to see skepticism and fatigue among people. And just as many good initiatives emerged during the pandemic, many myths also emerged. Today, we see that these digital forces are sharing a lot of false information, and we no longer know what to believe,” the researcher comments. Now, in 2025, Alma is going from strength to strength, and in the last month it has reached more than 90,000 visits. “It took time to create a competitive product. ChatGPT and AI changed the world in 2024 , and today we are training our models in a much more advanced way,” she says.

Just as many good initiatives emerged during the pandemic, many myths also emerged. Today, we see these digital forces sharing a lot of false information, and we no longer know what to believe.

Gabriela Asturias, winner of the Princess of Girona Award

The soon-to-be-released mobile app will include the ability to create user profiles so the AI can offer personalized information. Initially, it will send reminders to vaccinate children, for example.

On the other hand, Alma will soon reach healthcare professionals. “The same technologies we use to empower patients with information are also being used by healthcare workers who are alone in the most rural health centers in Guatemala. We are creating a WhatsApp training model for healthcare workers with the Ministry of Health,” Asturias explains. The first course will be on vaccination and will operate using gamification, that is, the learning-through-play model. “A nurse, for example, signs up and tells the AI, via WhatsApp, what time works for them. Then, every day at that time, the AI will send a challenge and questions,” explains the project leader. “The dream is to endorse the courses,” she admits, “so that the person not only stays up-to-date with information, but also, upon completing the module and obtaining the necessary score, can earn continuing education credits as a healthcare worker [that will provide value in the public system].” While the vaccination pilot is being rolled out, the approximately 20 people working on the project are already preparing to develop other modules on infectious, respiratory, and waterborne and foodborne diseases.

Along with feeding Alma with content, the team is working to ensure she remains spontaneous and relatable, to rebuild the trust lost in a digital environment rife with hoaxes. “It doesn't operate with a rigid, prescribed model; instead, it's sought to make people feel comfortable,” says Asturias. It seems to have worked: “People have grown fond of her, sending her blessings, greetings to her family, and even wishing her a Merry Christmas. In some rural areas, they even asked us where Alma lived.”