Ciencia Puerto Rico

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where I attended the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus and graduated with a B.S. in Biology. I then attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX. At UTSW, I conducted my graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Colleen McClung, investigating the role of circadian genes in cocaine addiction, and graduated with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2012. During my time at UTSW, I actively recruited diversity applicants to the school and was a member of the admissions committee of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences for two years. I performed my postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Irwin Lucki, studying the antidepressant potential of opioid compounds. While at Penn, I also served as co-Chair of the Diversity Committee of the Biomedical Postdoctoral Council and as member of the Institutional Review Board. I currently work in the Office of Training, Career Development and Workforce Diversity (OTCDWD) at NINDS.