Maruja Clavier was born in 1934 in the Anzoátegui State located in the northeastern region of Venezuela.
She began her baccalaureate education at the Colegio Nuestra Señora de La Consolación in Barcelona, Venezuela and completed it in Goshen, New York.
[1] Clavier's interest in the medicinal power of nuclear medicine was sparked when she translated from English into Spanish the book Physical Foundations of Radiology by Edith Quimby (et al.), who was one of the founders of this medical specialty.
In 1963, Clavier graduated with the first class of radiation oncologists in the country, and the following year she founded the Eastern Chapter of the Society of Oncology in Barcelona, Venezuela.
Two of her sons, Eduardo and Antonio Benavides, went on to pursue careers as Venezuelan oncologists.