In 1961, María left Cuba due to the Castro Regime and moved to New Orleans. She worked in research positions as she waited for her husband, Dr. Juan Washington, to flee the island. María's distinguished career spanned 37 years at Tulane Medical School, first as professor of anatomy and later as director of the Cytogenetics Lab of the Hayward Genetics Center. María loved music and in 1965, the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra invited her to narrate Luigi Nono's "Memento: Romance de la Guardia Civil Española" the third section of his "Epitaph for Federico García Lorca". In addition to her New Orleans performances, she later performed this with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York.