Evangelina Villegas

Mexican biochemist

Evangelina Villegas (October 24, 1924 – April 24, 2017) was a Mexican cereal biochemist whose work with maize led to the development of quality protein maize (QPM). She and her colleague from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Surinder Vasal, shared the 2000 World Food Prize for this achievement. Villegas was the first woman to ever receive the World Food Prize.

Villegas did a B. A. chemistry and biology at the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico and earned a M. Sc. on cereal technology from Kansas State University. In the 1970s, Villegas would begin collaborative research with Vasal. Villegas was in charge of the lab investigating protein quality, while Vasal worked on developing QPM varieties that would gain widespread acceptance. Villegas and Vasal together combined existing "opaque 2" maize variety using molecular biology techniques. During this time, Villegas would be credited for the evaluation, development, and adaptation of a chemical methodology to screen large numbers of small samples for industrial wheat quality and maize nutritional and protein quality. She would go on to be named Head of the General Service Laboratory in 1992, serve as a consultant for national programs for protein quality and industrial quality laboratories for Brazil, Argentina, and Guatemala. She would also be involved in the establishment of quality laboratories in India, Thailand, Egypt, Tunis, Ghana, the Philippines, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Mexico. This allowed the men to go and pursue an education that they otherwise would not have been able to. After her retirement, Villegas became an advisor to the Sasakwa Africa Association, to help improve agricultural technology in Africa. She would also act as an advisor to young scientists. In 2017, CMMIYT named a laboratory in her honor.

Evangelina Villegas, Edwin Theodore Mertz. 1971. Chemical screening methods for maize protein quality at CIMMYT. Número 20 de Research bulletin International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Editor CIMMYT, 14 pp.