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Eduardo Santiago-Rodriguez

Despite growing up next to in poverty-stricken neighborhoods in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, Eduardo Santiago-Rodriguez was able to see the sincerity and beauty of the environments, people and culture—and he learned and important lesson:
 
“Great things can be done to help others with only giving your time.”
 
Motivated by his childhood experiences and family support, Santiago-Rodriguez earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón Campus, and a master’s degree public health in epidemiology from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus.
 
He then interned for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and for an international program sponsored by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. There, he was appointed to Murcia, Spain, to study the local geographic distribution of pediatric cancer.
 
Santiago-Rodriguez is currently a biostatistician at the Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
 
With aims of becoming a future independent researcher in the area of cancer health disparities, studying determinants of health and the integration of spatial data to the analysis, Eduardo applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which offers a five-day summer institute and internships to encourage master’s-level students and health professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and a cancer research career.
 
He said the program was not only inspirational, but helpful and informational.
 
“Before coming [to the Éxito! Summer Institute], I made a list of questions I wanted to get answered about the application process and how to prepare for that,” Santiago-Rodriguez said. “Now I can say all of them were answered.”