English - Comité de Colaboradores Externos

She was nominated in September 2020 to be part of the UPR Governing Board by former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced. Although the positive report from the Senate Nominations Committee then identified her as a resident of San Juan, she is a professor at Northwestern University in Illinois, where she earned her Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy. In 2014, she founded COFI in San Juan, whose representative agent is the former chief of staff of the Vázquez Garced administration, Antonio Pabón Batlle. Velasco worked with the National Science Foundation and has been recognized for her scientific and academic work by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Mayda Velasco Bonilla

Committee of External Collaborators

He has a Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Neurobiology with a Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. He was a professor at the UPR Mayagüez Campus (RUM, in Spanish) and the Medical Sciences Campus. He also worked for the US Department of State as an advisor on Science and Technology. He is currently Senior Director of Public Policy and Global Sustainable Development for the US National Academy of Sciences. He chairs the External Collaborators Committee “at the invitation of Dr. Mayda Velasco.”

Franklin Carrero Martínez

Committee of External Collaborators

Committee of External Collaborators

He is a dentist who graduated from the RCM School of Dental Medicine and the Columbia University School of Dental Medicine. He founded the Laser Dental Center in 2001. He was the president of Ashford Hospital for six years. His wife, Dr. Ileana Fumero, is also a member of the External Collaborators Committee. He was the treasurer and donor of the pro-statehood Igualdad Futuro Seguro Political Action Committee.

ClydeFasick Juliá

Committee of External Collaborators

She is a doctor of psychiatry, a graduate of the RCM and founder of Psychiatric Solutions C.S.P., a psychiatric medical services company whose vice president is her husband Clyde Fasick, another member of the External Collaborators Committee. She chairs the Board of Directors of the non profit corporation Alliance for a Drug-Free Puerto Rico and is also a researcher at the BDH Research Center, a center dedicated to clinical studies and psychiatric medical services.

Ileana Fumero

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He is a clinical pharmacist working at Mission Regional Medical Center in Texas and is also on the Board of Directors of COFI, the organization that Velasco established. He ran the Brownsville Hospital in Texas.

EricBou Díaz

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

Doctor in Pharmacology and Neurosciences, she graduated from the RCM. She was the first female rector of the UPR Río Piedras Campus for seven years, under the presidency of Antonio García Padilla, between 2002 and 2009, as well as vice president of Research and Technology of the UPR’s Central Administration. She chaired the political group Alliance for Sovereign Free Association (ALAS, in Spanish) and is also a member of the COFI Board of Directors.

GladysEscalona de Motta

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He is an obstetrician-gynecologist and was assistant professor at RCM for a decade, from 1994 to 2004, before going into private practice. At the Medical Sciences Campus he was a student of Velasco Bonilla’s father. Furthermore, he is a member of COFI’s Board of Directors. Huerta also presides over Banco Vida, a stem cell processing and storage laboratory at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Banco Vida was established after the proposal of then gubernatorial candidate for the New Progressive Party (PNP, in Spanish) Ricardo Rosselló Nevares. In 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the corporation for violations in the evaluation of risk factors for communicable diseases such as the Zika virus among stem cell donors and the absence of written protocols to prevent microbiological contamination in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, among others. The obstetrician maintained that the FDA’s observations are unfair because “they’re stating that blood from Puerto Rico is useless because Puerto Rico is a place where Zika is endemic, which we know isn’t true, a case of Zika hasn’t been reported here for many years. It’s a huge discrimination against us.” The FDA has not made a final decision on his case.

JoséHuerta Rebozo

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

A graduate from the UPR Law School, he was Vice President and Director of Human Resources at Northwestern University, where Velasco Bonilla currently works. He began his career as a legislative assistant in the Senate, then worked at the McConell Valdés law firm and at Motorola Solutions. In 2015 he was part of a team that studied workplace harassment on behalf of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He is currently Vice President of Human Resources at Harvard University. His brother, Ramón Cuevas Trisán, also sits on the Committee.

Ángel Manuel Cuevas Trisán

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

Physician specialized in Physiatry and current associate director of Education and Research of the West Palm Beach, Florida Veterans Administration. He is a graduate of RCM, where his parents had a long career as professors. His brother, Ángel Manuel Cuevas Trisán, is also part of the Committee.

Ramón Cuevas Trisán

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

She is manager of miR Scientific, LLC in Puerto Rico, a company “committed to transforming cancer management by providing early and accurate detection of the disease.” She is also the founder and executive of the communications consulting firm Latin2Latin (L2L) Marketing. Her cousin, Carlos Flores, was secretary of the Department of Agriculture under the Rosselló Nevares administration.

ArmindaFigueroa

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He was director of the Institute of Eyes and Skin of the Federico Trilla Hospital of UPR Carolina. In January, the rector of the RCM, Ilka Ríos, appointed him director of the Campus’s Intramural Medicine Practice Program.

José Camacho Rivera

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He founded the Puerto Rico chapter of the Academy of Audiologists, and 29 years ago, the network of centers specializing in audiological health, Precision Hearing and Balance Center. He is on the Audiology Board of Examiners and is a graduate of Southern Illinois University.

Eugenio Gómez García

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

She is a family nurse practitioner, an evaluator for the RCM School of Nursing, and a founding member of the College of Nursing Professionals.

Carmen López Rodríguez

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

Professor at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and Sciences in Minnesota. She directs the institution’s Surgical Critical Care program and is also associate director of the Surgery residency program.

Mariela Rivera Montalvo

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He is the director of operations for Metro Pavía Health Systems and was administrator of the Dr. Federico Trilla Hospital of UPR Carolina. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Health Services Administration (ASES, in Spanish) and is an evaluator at the RCM School of Public Health, from where he graduated.

Domingo Nevares Ramírez

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

He is a radiation oncologist, graduated from the RCM, and evaluator of the RCM’s Schools of Medicine and Health Professionals. According to a document signed by Velasco in response to a request for information from the Senate, the manager of Bluhaus Capital, Alberto J. Toro Casellas, is also a Committee member.

JaimeTome Vila

Comité de Colaboradores Externos

Committee of External Collaborators

The document sent to the Senate also identifies Alberto J. Toro Casellas, of Bluhaus, as a member of the Committee.

Comité de Colaboradores Externos