Dr. Opava received her B.S. in Biology from the College of Mt. St. Vincent in New York, a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Michigan, and postdoctoral training in renal physiology at Dartmouth Medical School. She joined the faculty of the Department of Physiology at the University of Puerto Rico Medical School in 1974, and advanced from Assistant Professor to Professor and Chair of the Department. In these positions she taught medical, graduate and dental students, and maintained an active federally funded research program in the areas of water and electrolyte homeostasis, hormonal regulation of renal function, and hypertension. She has published numerous original research and review articles and book chapters on these topics. In 1982 she received a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health.