World renowned Honduran scientist Salvador Moncada is being interviewed at the recent National Congress for Science and Technology.

Famed Honduran scientist, Salvador Moncada, came to Tegucigalpa last week to attend a national congress on science and technology, and he was also declared an ambassador of science by the government. The congress was designed to raise the profile of science and technology in Honduras, and discussed how investment in these areas could help eradicate poverty, improve education, and improve Honduras' profile in the world. Moncada joked that Honduras has the "smallest role possible" in science, but that "science helps any country to develop."

Despite living in England, Moncada has never forgotten about Honduras. He set up a foundation in Honduras in 1999 to help raise awareness of science. It has raised his profile but also helped Honduran children with skills in science, and it has shown them how it can help their education and futures. The Salvador Moncada Foundation has been very successful, and it means he can always contribute to Honduras when he is in England.

Moncada says that normally there is "little interest" whenever he comes to Honduras for work, blaming this on lack of funding, however "this time the government are more interested, suddenly it might work." He expressed hopes that following this congress, there will be heightened interest in science, and better funding. The congress was certainly very popular, it created a lot of discussion and attracted a lot of media attention.
Another reason why Honduras does not have a big role in science, according to Moncada, is that in developing countries, a lot of the best students go abroad, like he did. He said that "increased investment" would create more trained scientists in Honduras, and keep them in the country. 

For ten years, Moncada has been the Director of the Wolfson Institute for biomedical research at University College London. He has spent a total of 36 years in England, first arriving in 1971 when he achieved a fellowship at the Sir John Vane laboratory at the Royal College of Surgeons. He qualified as a doctor in El Salvador, and his work, which is based in cardiovascular medicine, including the development of viagra, has won him a lot of recognition. It is also well known in the science world that when the 1998 Nobel Prize for Science nominations did not include him, there was a lot of protest from fellow scientists. Salvador Moncada is married to Princess Maria-Esmeralda of Belgium, and they have two children.