Born in Madrid on october 10th, 1949, she is married and has three children.

She was educated at the Liceo Italiano in Madrid and holds a degree in law from the 'Complutense' University of Madrid.

She holds the diploma in human rights from the 'Institut des Droits de l'Homme' at the University of Strasbourg and did her doctoral thesis at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachussets, on Industrial Copyrigth Law.

In 1973, she began to practise as a lawyer and in 1982 she was elected as deputy on the Governing Body of the Lawyers' Association of Madrid, a post from which she resigned in September 1986. From that time, until April 1991, she was head of the technical secretariat at the Ministry of Public Works and Town Planning. From June 1991 until her appointment as minister of health and consumer affairs, she held the post of undersecretary at this very Ministry.

On July 14th, 1993, she was appointed minister of health and consumer affairs.