Alfio Piva Mesén is a Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

n politician, scientist and environmentalist. He is the First Vice President of Costa Rica. The Second Vice President is Luis Liberman

Luis Liberman

Luis Liberman Ginsburg is a Costa Rican businessperson and Second Vice President of Costa Rica. He was elected in February 2010 on the ticket with President Laura Chinchilla and First Vice President Alfio Piva. Liberman's family moved to Costa Rica from Poland prior to World War II...

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Piva obtained a Ph.D in animal physiology from the University of Milan

University of Milan

The University of Milan is a higher education institution in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 62,801 students, a teaching and research staff of 2,455 and a non-teaching staff of 2,200....

 in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and co-founded the Veterinary School of the National University of Costa Rica

National University of Costa Rica

National University of Costa Rica in Heredia is one of five public universities in the country. Over 12,000 students study at its main campus. In addition to undergraduate programs, it offers 16 Masters of Art degrees and is strong in ecology and education related coursework.- External links :*...

. In 1995 he won the Prince of Asturias Award

Prince of Asturias Awards

The Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....

 in Technical and Scientific Research along with his colleagues from INBio

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad

The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad is the national institute for biodiversity and conservation in Costa Rica. Created at the end of the 1980s, and despite having national status, it is a privately-run institution that works closely with various government agencies, universities, business...

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