What is your favorite food and why?
Puerto Rican Christmas food always brings memories of good times with friends and family.

What’s the best advice you ever received?
My parents always motivated me to study hard and not to worry too much how much college would cost.

Do you have any hobbies?
I like to read biographies and play the guitar. In my spare time I enjoy watching documentaries.

How did you get involved in tech transfer?
While pursuing my MBA I learned about tech transfer and came to the realization that it was the field in which I wanted to grow professionally. Back then it was difficult to think of a career in tech transfer because the field essentially did not exist in Puerto Rico. But coincidently, as I was finishing my MBA, David Gulley was moving to the island to establish a regional TTO at the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, after a long and successful career at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At that time, I was organizing a series of seminars to help prepare researchers to take advantage of the opportunities that might present during the celebration of Biolatam 2016, scheduled for the end of that year in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Due to my interest in technology transfer, and the real need I knew existed among local inventors for serious discussions about that subject, I suggested that the first seminar should be on tech transfer by David Gulley, who has been my mentor since.

What’s something that has surprised you from your career path?
In sharing experiences with colleagues who transitioned from academic research into technology transfer, I’ve learned that there is often an interesting and perhaps serendipitous story about how they got into tech transfer that resonates with my own experience.

What’s something you’re working on right now that really excites you?
We recently launched the third cycle of our EnTRUST Program in cooperation with Columbia University’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and its Life Science Accelerator Lab to Market Boot Camp. EnTRUST is a special program of our NIH NIGMS Southeast XLerator Network with the mission to engage, educate, advance and provide critical funding for a select number of life science discoveries and innovations, especially for researchers from our university partners in Puerto Rico.

What do you like most about working with inventors and other tech transfer professionals?
I like to work with colleagues who have a real passion and excitement for science, a genuine interest to move scientific discoveries made in Puerto Rico into the market, and a conviction that scientific discoveries should be at the service of humanity’s well-being.

What does AUTM membership have to offer that you can’t get from other organizations?
AUTM provides a community of colleagues eager to help, the opportunity to connect with people with similar interests, insightful group discussions and relevant courses.

What’s your favorite memory from a past AUTM event?
My favorite memory is meeting colleagues from different parts of the world at my very first AUTM meeting in Hollywood, FL, in 2017. I continue to stay in touch with them and look forward to seeing them again at the next Annual Meeting in Austin.

What do you enjoy most about your volunteer role with the Better World Project?
Being able to learn and showcase the real impact that technology transfer and TTOs have around the world.