Dr. Marta Illueca is a physician, researcher, and Episcopal priest whose career bridges medicine, spirituality, and healing. Born in New York and raised in Central America, she is bilingual, fluent in both Spanish and English. Dr. Illueca graduated with honors from the University of Panamá Medical School in 1984 and completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (now NY Presbyterian). She further specialized in Pediatric Gastroenterology through a fellowship at Cornell University, later serving as an Attending Pediatric Gastroenterologist.
Dr. Illueca expanded her expertise into spiritual wellness, earning postdoctoral degrees from Yale Divinity School and Tufts University. Her research focuses on the integration of spirituality and medicine, including the therapeutic use of prayer in chronic pain management. A Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain, she currently serves with the Brandywine Collaborative Ministries in Wilmington, Delaware.