Mauro Zúñiga Araúz was born in Panama City in 1943. He received his doctorate in medicine from the National University of Panama in 1968, specialising in internal medicine. He worked at the Rafael Hernández hospital in the city of David from 1973 to 1976, later on transferring to the Internal Medicine department of the Complejo Hospitalario Metropolitano Arnulfo Arias Madrid in Panama City until 2007, when he retired from clinical practice. He was professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Panama and worked at the private San Fernando clinic. He is currently a researcher at the University of Panama.