Dr. María del Socorro Imelda Retana Márquez holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Physiological Sciences from the Biomedical Research Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Iztapalapa Campus.

She is a Full-Time Full Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Iztapalapa Campus, where she holds the PRODEP Desirable Profile distinction and is a member of the Academic Body in Behavioral and Reproductive Biology. She is also a Level II National Researcher in the National System of Researchers (SNII). In 2013, she received the UAM Teaching Excellence Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to higher education.

Her research focuses on reproduction and neuroscience, with particular expertise in the neuropsychoendocrinology of stress and its effects on reproduction, fertility, learning, and memory, as well as neurochemical disorders caused by prenatal stress. As the founder of the research area and research group in this field at UAM Iztapalapa, she has led research projects funded by CONAHCYT, SECIHTI, and PRODEP.

Her scholarly output includes 82 international peer-reviewed research articles, 29 book chapters, two edited scientific books, and 177 conference presentations. She has delivered 17 keynote lectures and serves as a reviewer for international scientific journals and as an evaluator of research proposals. She has supervised 17 undergraduate capstone projects, 22 undergraduate social service projects, 16 master’s theses, and 11 doctoral dissertations.

In academic leadership and institutional service, she currently serves as Head of the Research Area in Behavioral and Reproductive Biology and is a member of the Steering Committee responsible for implementing the Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Psychology at UAM Iztapalapa. She previously served as Coordinator of the Master’s Program in Animal Reproductive Biology (MBRA, 2021–2025), as a member of the Evaluation Committee for the Biological Sciences Area (2018–2020), and as a member of the academic committees of the Graduate Program in Biological and Health Sciences (CBS) and the Divisional Editorial Board.

She has been a member of the Mexican Society of Physiological Sciences and the Society for Neuroscience since 1999. She also served on the Academic Committee for Biological and Health Sciences from 2018 to 2020, contributing to the evaluation and development of academic programs and research initiatives.