She attended the Colegio León Pinelo in Lima before studying medicine at the National University of La Plata, Argentina, where she obtained her professional title in 1992.

[1] From 2005 to 2006, she was director of the Sexual Rights and Citizenship in Health program at the Flora Tristán Peruvian Women's Center.

[1][2] She worked at the Israeli Ministry of Health from 2011 to 2013, where she was a researcher and responsible for the implementation of the National Law on Hospital Quality Assurance.

[1] On 27 August 2016, Pessah was appointed Vice Minister of Public Health [es] in the government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

On 2 April 2018, Pessah was sworn in as Peru's Minister of Health, in the first cabinet of President Martín Vizcarra.