Mónica Moraes R., Bolivian by birth, studied biology and got both MSc (1989) and PhD (1996) at the University of Aarhus (Denmark). Since 1990 she has been a full-time professor of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, in La Paz, Bolivia. She is an emeritus professor since 2007.

As a botanist, she carried out research on flora and vegetation in the Amazon of Bolivia and has specialized in the study of palms: Her studies involved taxonomy, biology, ecology, distribution, ethnobotany, conservation and management of palms. She was director of the Institute of Ecology and the National Herbarium of Bolivia. She is Editor in Chief of the scientific journal "Ecology in Bolivia" from 2001 to present. Among her publications Dr Moraes ca. 70 articles, 20 edited books, among others.

She was named as number academic at the Academy of Sciences of Bolivia in 2008. She is focal point for Bolivia in the Women for Science Program of the InterAmerican Association of Science Academies from 2010 to present. She was invited as a permanent member of TWAS from 2019. Dr. Moraes was elected as president of the Academy of Sciences of Bolivia since 2021.