Dr. Guerrero has spent his life in academic activities such as teaching epidemiology for undergraduate and graduate students and in administrative activities (Head of Department, Dean of Health Sciences and President of Universidad del Valle, Secretary of Health of Cali). He graduated as MD from Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia and later had a Master of Science and Dr. P.H. in Epidemiology from Harvard University, Boston, MA.
In 1992, Dr. Guerrero was elected Mayor of Cali and developed an epidemiological approach to urban violence prevention through the Program DESEPAZ, which has been successfully applied in several cities of Colombia and other countries. After leaving the Mayor’s office joined the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, where he started the Violence Prevention Program. He is an Honorary Professor and active member of CISALVA, Violence Research Center of Universidad del Valle, and also is a member of the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences). In 2008, he was elected city counselor of Cali and in 2011 was elected for a second term, which ended in December 2015, as Mayor of Cali.
His academic life has been intertwined with social development work, initially as physician in a health center director and later as Director of Fundacion Carvajal. More recently, Dr. Guerrero has dedicated time to Vallenpaz, a nonprofit corporation devoted to help peasants in conflict ridden rural areas of Colombia.
