Professor Nelly Mañay PhD is a Chemical Toxicologist and Head Professor of the Department of Toxicology and Environmental Hygiene at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of the Republic (UdelaR) and forensic chemical advisor at the Justice Court of Uruguay.

Her main toxicological research qualifications and publications are focused on environmental and analytical toxicology, metals exposure, biological monitoring and heath impacts in different vulnerable uruguayan populations.

Her toxicology research team has been involved in Medical Geology research since 2002, studying metals and metalloids exposure and environment health impacts within the Medical Geology International group (IGCP project # 454) and afterwards, as a founding member of the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA), created in 2005.

She has acted as the South American Division coordinator together with Cassio Silva from the Geological Survey from Brazil to promote Medical Geology in this part of the world.

Her contributions to IMGA have been developed in several scientific activities which were carried out in Uruguay, regionally and world-wide, strengthening the integration between the biosciences, public health and geoscience communities by facilitating research and training opportunities among them. In the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE, a United Nations initiative with global activities) 2007-2009, where Earth and Health (Medical Geology) was one of the central topics, she was invited to join the Science Program as a SIT member.

Elected to hold the 3rd Hemispheric Conference on Medical Geology in Montevideo, the week of October 12-17, 2009 she was named as the Chairperson of this important event for our Medical Geology scientific community.

In addition, Professor Manay is the current executive committee elected President of the Uruguayan Society of Toxicology and Ecotoxicology (S.U.T.E.) and the executive committee elected Secretary of the Latin American Association of Toxicology (ALATOX), an IUTOX Member Society. Her group is also a delegate member to the Chemical Pollutants & Environmental Health Institutional Advisor Committee created by a Uruguayan Executive Power decree, since 2004 as an initiative of the Ministry of Health. This committee discusses common and interdisciplinarity subjects which involves environmental and health problems with the different professionals' point of view to advise the authorities to take into account in their official decisions.