Special Seminar & Conversation with Dr. Kevin Alicea-Torres

Join us for a special seminar & conversation with 

Dr. Kevin Alicea-Torres, PhD
Assistant Professor of Cell & Molecular Biology
Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao

Harnessing the Immune System to Fight Cancer: 
A Story of Research, Impact, and Science Communication

Dr. Kevin Alicea-Torres is a cancer immunologist, principal investigator, and a science communicator. He obtained his B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Humacao Campus. He completed his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted his thesis research in cancer immunology at The Wistar Institute. Dr. Alicea-Torres leads the Advancing Cancer Immunology and Inclusive Science Communication Research Lab at UPR Humacao. Dr. Alicea-Torres has accumulated more than twelve years working in the field of basic and clinical cancer immunology and research.

Beyond the bench, he served as the director of education for an NSF-funded program and as the associate director for an HHMI-funded program. He was also the first Mass Media Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) placed at El Nuevo Día newspaper and is the co-founder of Caminos en Ciencia, a science communication platform. As an undergraduate student, he led the ASM Student Chapter at UPR Humacao and was the student spokesperson for the Puerto Rico Society of Microbiologists. Currently, Dr. Alicea-Torres holds multiple leadership positions, including serving as Chair of the Cancer Immunology Working Group Communication Subcommittee of the American Association for Cancer Research and President of the AAAS Caribbean Division.

Now as an assistant professor at the UPR Humacao Campus and affiliated investigator at the UPR Comprehensive Cancer Center, his research focuses on elucidating the role of immunotherapy and novel therapeutic approaches in reprogramming the metabolic activity of immune-suppressive myeloid cells in cancer. He is also investigating the interaction between the immune system and the microbiome and its influence on the response to immunotherapy in cancer. His ultimate goal is the design of novel strategies for the therapeutic targeting of immune-suppressive myeloid cells and the development of new, effective methods of immunotherapy for cancer patients.