# Works of guantanamera Yulia Clark Feoklistova improve the diagnosis of Wilson's Disease

**Date:** 10/15/2021

Yulia Clark Feoklistova, a professor at the University of Guantánamo (UG), promoted the generalization of techniques for the diagnosis of Wilson's Disease (WD), which is transmitted through autosomal recessive inheritance and is usually fatal before age 50.

She, who also holds a doctorate in Biological Sciences (University of Havana, 2018), received the National Prize for Innovation of Greatest Economic and Social Impact, which she earned for the aforementioned initiative and contribution to the treatment and combat of the aforementioned disease, whose worldwide prevalence is 10 to 30 per million inhabitants, and whose carrier rate is one to 90 per million.

The award granted by the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (ANIR) constitutes a tribute to Samuel A. Kinnier Wilson (United States, 1878 - London, 1937), discoverer of that disorder associated with progressive neurological alterations that prevent the human body from eliminating excess copper through the liver's bile secretion.

It is also related to the immediate improvement of care for other pathologies of genetic origin, some of which are predominant in Guantánamo (hemophilia and sickle cell disease), whose protocols also benefit from the fact that the provincial capital has a Molecular Biology Laboratory as of the beginning of the year.

The interviewee specified that apart from PCR tests (Polymerase Chain Reaction) to detect the COVID 19 virus, tests can be performed there to diagnose the causes of acute respiratory and stomach conditions, and other pathologies, including zika and chikungunya, as well as studies for the benefit of treatment for hemophiliacs and sickle cell patients.

In the full bloom of her maturity, at 40 years of age, Clark Feoklistova lists research among her oldest and foremost passions.

Upon her return to Guantánamo for family reasons in 2015, she possessed an enviable portfolio and track record in the molecular diagnosis of WD and other similar diseases, through her links with the National Center for Medical Genetics, the Institute of Gastroenterology, and the International Center for Neurological Restoration.

Currently, she works in the Departments of Science and Technology, and Biology, of the Faculty of Education at UG, and regrets that the 24 hours of the day are not enough to satisfy her teaching and research aspirations, which flourished in the country's capital (where she obtained an anniversary degree, a master's degree, and a doctorate), and which originated in the Guantanamo vocational institute José Maceo.

She clarifies that her career in the Cuban Capital does not diminish her stay in La Villa del Guaso, which she avoids referring to as her birthplace since Yulia Clark Feoklistova, as one of her surnames suggests, was born in the then Soviet Union, to a Russian mother and Cuban father.