RESEARCH

Ponce Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity that provides the research infrastructure support for an exceptional group of scientists and research staff. Our researchers are committed to solving some of the most pressing health challenges facing Hispanic communities, in areas such as cancer, neuroscience, infectious diseases, women’s health, community-based research, and e-health initiatives. PRI provides modern research facilities that foster collaborative, integrative research. We have various ongoing collaborations within Puerto Rico, as well as with many institutions in the U.S. mainland, including a 10 year partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. We are leaders in clinical research in southwestern Puerto Rico, and have participated in over 275 Phase 1-Phase 4 clinical trials. Our institutional strategic plan includes additional expansion of our research team and facilities in the next five years. In doing so, we will not only contribute to an important body of research that will serve patients across the U.S., we will also bring an influx of investment and job opportunities to our community. I encourage you to explore the Ponce Research Institute and feel free to contact us if you need additional information.

To make a difference by addressing health challenges through groundbreaking, innovative, and relevant research that has a global impact on healthcare.

To be recognized as a prestigious research center and to have a global impact on biomedical and multidisciplinary research across the world.

Strengthen and expand research activities to enhance scientific work and reduce health challenges.

The Ponce Research Institute (PRI), in collaboration with Ponce Health Sciences University, is driven by a singular purpose: research that changes lives. For more than two decades, I have had the privilege of building my own career here — as a faculty researcher, a department chair, and now as President — and I have seen firsthand what this institution is capable of when science, mentorship, and community come together.

PRI's mission is to grow, strengthen, promote, and safeguard the research enterprise of PHSU-PRI, upholding the highest standards of integrity at every stage. Our offices provide central services in research policy, compliance, contract development and negotiation, technology transfer, economic development, research administration, and communications. We support our investigators from the earliest stages of proposal development through the translation of discoveries into real-world impact.

The health challenges facing our communities today are multifactorial and require multidisciplinary solutions. That is why collaboration sits at the heart of everything we do across PHSU's academic programs, our affiliated hospitals, and partners in the public and private sectors. I have spent my career working at these intersections, from studying the molecular underpinnings of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders to leading infrastructure development that supports investigators across disciplines, and I know that our greatest breakthroughs happen when we build bridges rather than silos.

PRI and PHSU have long stood as pillars of southcentral Puerto Rico, and our researchers are known for their scholarship and for their enthusiasm to put that knowledge to work. From the classroom and laboratory to the clinic and the community, we advance health each day and prepare for times of need for our island and the populations we serve. Our faculty are innovators and mentors in equal measure; many of the scientists shaping the future of this institution were trained right here, and investing in that next generation remains one of my deepest priorities as President.

We are entering an exciting new chapter for PRI, with continued growth in our research portfolio, expanding partnerships, and a renewed commitment to developing the talent that will carry this work forward. I am honored to lead an institution filled with such dedicated and creative researchers, whose work reaches far beyond our labs and into the daily lives of the people we serve.

I invite you to explore our website and learn more about the work happening at PRI. Our team and I look forward to partnering with you and supporting your research journey every step of the way.

~ Richard J. Noel Jr., Ph.D., MBA

President, Ponce Research Institute