I'm a hematologist-oncologist and physician scientist at the University of Miami (UM)/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. After graduating from John H. Francis Polytechnic Senior High School in Los Angeles, California I attended and graduated from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1993. I started cancer research as an undergraduate student in the laboratories of Richard Gaynor, and then Dennis Slamon at UCLA, where I learned molecular biology techniques, manipulated mammalian cancer models, and studied tumor suppressors. I continued laboratory research in the same areas while attending the New Jersey Medical School-UMDNJ, where I graduated in 1999. I completed my residency and fellowship training at UM and affiliated hospitals in 2005. Since my training at UM, I have devoted my entire clinical and laboratory research career to viral related malignancies. Much of this effort relates to translational projects on HTLV-1-related adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma and AIDS-associated malignancies. I am currently principal or co-investigator of peer-reviewed and NIH-NCI-sponsored projects related to the study of these diseases. I am the principal investigator of the NCI-sponsored AIDS Malignancy Consortium site in Miami, and have led NCI-funded projects on HTLV-1 and most recently the University of Miami-Argentina U54 consortium. I have presented my research at national/international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. I have also devoted significant time to teaching-related activities involving medical and undergraduate students, medical residents, and fellows in hematology-oncology training.
