A Biologist from Concordia University of Montreal, Canada and trained in Immunology at University of London, Royal Postgraduate Medical School. Since 1983, He is the Head of the Molecular Biology Lab at Instituto de Biomedicina in Caracas, Venezuela. Tapia and his group study different aspects of the cellular immune response in cutaneous leishmaniasis and other skin diseases. Basically, studying the role of dendritic cells in cutaneous leishmaniasis. Teaching activities involved the postgraduates of Dermatology and Dermopathology at Instituto de Biomedicina.