I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. The mountainsides of central Puerto Rico (Barranquitas) were the breeding grounds for my curiosity and love of the natural world and biology. During highschool (Colegio San Ignacio) I benefited enormously from minority research programs that allowed me to explore my interests in science.

During college (Harvard University) I continued to explore my interest in science and my developing consciousness for social issues: I spent my summers doing ethnopharmacological research in the rainforests of Central America. This research culminated in a collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá in a research project aimed at preserving the sustainable use of medicinal plants among the indigenous groups of the watershed area of the Panamá Canal.

I graduated with a BA in Biology from Harvard University (MA). At the time I was not sure if I wanted to pursue research because I was interested in returning to Puerto Rico and I wasn't sure about the research opportunities in the archipelago. Furthermore, I did not have access to a good mentor, a fellow Puerto Rican who did, or was interested, in scientific research. It was during that time that I was lucky to meet Mariano Garcia-Blanco, a Puerto Rican professor at Duke University who soon became my mentor, and later, a good friend.

I worked in Mariano's lab for a year while I sorted out my career goals, and the experience was so positive soon afterwards we were submitting a paper on my work to Developmental Cell and I formally joined the Duke PhD program.

I obtained my PhD from the University Program in Genomics and Genetics (UPGG) at Duke University while working with Dr. Sally Kornbluth at the Pharmacology and Cancer Biology Department. In the Kornbluth lab I combined bioinformatics, molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biological approaches to answer questions critical for understanding the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis, a physiological process tightly linked to cancer. After four productive years in Sally's lab I obtained my PhD and decided to further my training in molecular genetics, physiology and neurobiology by joining the lab of Dr. Kang Shen at Stanford University. I am now a professor at Yale University (see Project information above).

Besides research, I am very interested in science and Puerto Rico. I am part of a non-profit scientific thinktank (Council for the Advancement of Puerto Rico Research and Innovation) interested in these issues. CienciaPR is one of the innitiatives we have spearheaded, with the idea of helping nucleate a community of scientists interested in science and Puerto Rico. Our hope is that through this community fellow scientists find a voice and become more participatory on the important social, economic and educational issues Puerto Rico will face in the 21st century.