Organizers

Dr. Michelle M. Martínez-Montemayor

Associate Professor at Universidad Central del Caribe

Dr. Martínez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at UCC-SOM. She leads a cancer and experimental therapeutics research lab focusing on elucidating potential selective and non-toxic therapies that target aggressive breast cancers. Her research efforts are also focused on characterizing inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), in the underrepresented Puerto Rican population to increase patient survival and access to clinical trials. She has a patent on the efficacy of medicinal mushroom compounds in aggressive BC models, and secured a USDA-SBIR award to study neotropical local medicinal mushrooms with a Puerto Rican agricultural company. Her lab has been continuously funded since its inception in 2007 by the NIH, AICR, Susan G. Komen, USDA-NIFA, the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust (PRSTRT), the US Department of Education and private industry research agreements. Dr. Martínez served as MC of the first PRCRM, and since then, she has collaborated in the organization of the subsequent PRCRMs. She is part of the organizing committee of a cancer research symposium within the Puerto Rico College of Chemists annual meeting (see below), and also participates in various interdisciplinary conferences as speaker, and mentor. She has graduated five PhD students (all both female and Puerto Rican) from the UCC-SOM graduate program, and currently mentors a postdoc, two medical students and three undergraduate students (all female and Puerto Rican). She is devoted to train the next generation of underrepresented trainees in science.

Dr. Ivette J. Suárez-Arroyo

Assistant Professor at Universidad Central del Caribe

Dr. Suárrez is an Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry Department at UCC-SOM and the Director of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences. In 2014, while pursuing her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at UCC-SOM, she served as founder, along with other graduate students from UCC-SOM and Ponce Health Sciences University, of the first PRCRM. This inaugural meeting was funded by the American Society for Cell Biology. The 2014 PRCRM marked the first scientific meeting in Puerto Rico focused only on cancer, organized by students and aimed at both local researchers and students. Due to its impact on Puerto Rican cancer trainees and researchers, Dr. Suárez continued organizing this meeting, initially as a trainee and later as a researcher in the field. Additionally, she has co-organized smaller conferences in Puerto Rico with the goal of raising awareness about breast cancer prevention. Currently. Dr. Suárez is part of the organizing committee of a special symposium on cancer research at the 2024 Puerto Rico College of Chemists annual meeting to be held in San Juan, PR. Specifically, this symposium will be focused on the role of chemistry in oncology and cancer drug development, and the event is expected to have over 300 participants. Dr. Suárez’s research, which is funded by NIH, seeks to identify biomarkers and therapeutic target proteins for Triple Negative Breast Cancer using cellular and molecular approaches and animal models. Furthermore, she has experience in investigating the effectiveness of natural products on breast cancer progression. Dr. Suárez has trained and mentored numerous students underrepresented in the biomedical .field