MD-PhD Student (M1)

University of Miami MSTP

Educational background

I am an MD-PhD student at the University of Miami. I attended the University of Florida and graduated in May 2022 with a B.Sc in Biology, during which I had the opportunity to work at the Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT. I spent 2 years doing post-graduate training at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, WA prior to beginning my MSTP journey.

Research interests

I am broadly interested in genomics and the applications of computational methods to understand diverse biological processes, particularly cancer and neurological disesae. I will be exploring my clinical interests in ophthalmology and ocular oncology.

---

Research experiences

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Alice Berger Laboratory

• Genetic interaction mapping in the human genome: paired guide RNA MAPper (link to pre-print)
  
  

• Functional genomics to study molecular mechanisms of lung cancer
  
  
  

Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard
2021 Broad Summer Research Program

• Computational methods for analyzing spatial transcriptomics data
  
  
  

University of Florida Genetics Institute
Eric Wang Laboratory

• RNA mis-localization in neurodegenerative disease
  
  

Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Joseph Ryan Laboratory

• Evolutionary genomics of Ctenophora, the earliest diverging animal lineage
  
  

University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute
Anthony Maurelli Laboratory

• Bacterial genetics and functional discovery of a nutrient uptake system
  
  
  

---

Leadership

Collective for the Advancement of Minority Medical Scientists (CAMMS)
Follow CAMMS on Instagram

• I co-founded and led CAMMS with Christine Groso during its inaugural year at UF (2021)
• Two years later, CAMMS maintains a strong presence on the UF campus
  
  
  

---

About me

• I grew up in Okeechobee, a small town in Florida.
• I’m the son of first-generation immigrants from Cuba.
• I’m a heritage Spanish speaker and enjoy making/eating Cuban-American cuisine.