Trailblazing Women in Science: The Inspiring Journey of Dr. Pilar Vigil

By Leah Pollak
Mental and Physical Health 
 4/12/2025

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On the 10th anniversary of International Women and Girls in Science Day, I want to celebrate the pioneering research of Dr. Pilar Vigil. I met Doctor Vigil, 30 years ago, in my mom’s desperation to try to figure out why I was unable to lose weight. It was an arduous journey yet I was one of the lucky few who was able to consult nearly every possible genre of medicine in the early 1990’s. By the time I was 13, the medical community had produced few results and my mom was reaching hopelessness. Then, we met Doctor Pilar Vigil, and this would be a life changer.

Dr. Vigil found the problem – PCOS – a hormonal condition that affects women of reproductive age and can provoke difficulties in becoming pregnant and is associated with later onset of  diabetes. I found Doctor Vigil always made the extra effort.

Living with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a diagnosis that immediately raised questions about motherhood and fertility. But with Dr. Vigil by my side I was able to navigate the realities of PCOS and fortunately, in my case, to become pregnant. When I first got a glimpse of my daughter’s heart, Dr. Vigil was by my side. When I had difficulty breastfeeding we agreed that I would try  intranasal oxytocin (yes, you can sniff the love hormone). This was an experimental treatment designed to support mother-baby bonding  via a hormone my body could not produce naturally. When just one year later I was pregnant again, Doctor Vigil held my hand as she guided me, and monitored the meds so that I would not suffer postpartum depression while caring for two babies.

As a caretaker physician, she paid attention to those little details that are often not so little. She knew I had little in the way of a support network. Much of my family lived outside of Chile, and I would soon be returning  to work.

Today Dr Vigil guides my daughter through a similar journey. Current medical science suggests that nearly 3 of every 4 mothers with PCOS are likely to  have a daughter with this same syndrome. Yet today, when my eldest gets needle pricked 5 times every 30 minutes (for several hours)  thanks to Dr. Vigil I am not scared, nor is my daughter.

Instead Dr. Vigil hold’s my daughter’s hand and explains with confidence that she is not diabetic, and simply put “For now, sugar is not your friend.” During the three hours the test takes, I reminisce and tell my child that she is fortunate to have such competent care, fortunate to live in a world where science and medical advances are announced on a near daily basis.

In my time, I explain, we experimented with many different approaches to treating PCOS. There were the clinical trials with unripe baby apples, the tests with a unique honey produced three hours from Santiago, and the clinical trial with a berry from Southern Chile known as maqui. Now it feels like my body had to go through all those experiments so other young girls, including my own daughter, will not have to wonder if it is her own fault, nor have to hear the endless recriminations that I heard in the 1990’s: “You know, you should eat less!”

Looking at Pilar Vigil’s accomplishments it is difficult to know where to start. Her 280+ publications are testament to an almost four decade long commitment to research and medical education. In 2018 she led the team that  published a landmark study on women’s health. The paper – “Steroid Hormones and Their Actions in Women’s Brains” – was groundbreaking, rocketing her to the cusp of scientific citations. Her book, Ovulation, A Sign of Health, follows the title and recognizes ovulation as a sign of health in women, with a strong correlation that the hormones in our bodies are functioning correctly.

Thanks to Pilar, her team, and her commitment I continued to learn about hormonal disorders, about my own condition and those shared with millions of other women. The more I learn, the more I am able to find my own road to health and now I hold my daughter’s hand with confidence as she embarks on her own treatment of insulin resistance.

Today, I work with an amazing team at @Fundacion del Saber that includes top medical and science experts, including Pilar. Dr Vigil’s dedication to her patients, young and old, is notable. I am pleased that she is joining us on a new endeavor with @Fundacion del Saber where we strive to harvest the fruits of a digital revolution in the world of medicine and health.

Through our work, our collaboration, our interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to care, we expect to share these new scientific and medical breakthroughs with millions of women. We aim for a health environment where patients will not be hoping to make the cut and waitlist for “concierge medicine” but instead receive state of the art care that is available to all in a timely manner and delivered with the kind of compassion that I always felt with Pilar Vigil. On the 10-year anniversary of International Women and Girls in Science Day, that’s what I am celebrating with my two daughters.

And the future?

On  the 20th anniversary, in 2035, I am certain that Dr. Vigil and the rest of our team will continue to educate and share  timely and practical medical advances to women throughout Latin America and the world.

#InternationalWomenAndGirlsInScienceDay