Diversity Program Alumni Updates: Alberto Rivera-Rentas, Ph.D.

Alberto Rivera-Rentas earned a bachelor's degree in natural sciences in 1988 from the University of Puerto Rico and a Ph.D. in biology with concentration in neurobiology in 1996 through the University of Puerto Rico Intercampus Program, a joint program of the Medical Sciences and the Rio Piedras campus, where he participated in the Minority Biomedical Research Support. Rivera-Rentas served as a program director in the NIGMS Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity, where he was also responsible for two NIH-wide programs: the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences and the NIH Director's New Innovator Award. He also managed a portfolio of research grants in NIGMS' Division of Cell Biology and Biophysics. Rivera-Rentas is now a program director at NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where he handles portfolios in HIV/AIDS and Special Populations and is the Center’s training officer. He joined NIH from his native Puerto Rico, where he was an associate professor of biology, dean, director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research and principal investigator of several student development and research training programs, including the TWD-funded Bridges to the Doctorate program.

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