Patricia is a medical doctor and was initially trained as a specialist in general surgery. She worked at the Military Hospital of El Salvador and later was part of the Field Epidemiology Training Program in Central America and the Dominican Republic, being an epidemiologist and surgeon at the Santa Teresa National Hospital in Zacatecoluca, La Paz department. 

She was a consultant in the preparation for the avian influenza pandemic in El Salvador for the Regional Office of Central America and Panama of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC - CAP) during 2008 - 2010 and later joined the team of epidemiologists in the National Office of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health in El Salvador, where she performed activities in the areas of epidemiological surveillance and in the national team of investigation and response to outbreaks. She has worked as a national referent in the surveillance of influenza and other respiratory viruses and in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic; she has also worked in the sentinel surveillance of other immunopreventable diseases, zoonosis, response to emergencies and natural disasters, and in the design and implementation of the country's dialysis registry. She has experience as a technical referent in the intersectoral commission for the management of health problems at the national level.

Patricia is currently FETP resident advisor for El Salvador at the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America (SE-COMISCA) since 2022.