(58a) The Right Reasons to Choose Industry over Academia and the Return

Dr. Gabriela Romero is the Klesse Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Romero received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico in 2007, a M.S. in Advanced Materials Engineering in 2009 and Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry and Polymer Science in 2012 from the Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain. During her graduate studies, Dr. Romero received twice the Marie Curie Fellowship to carried out research internships at Capsulution Pharma (Berlin, Germany) and at Zhejiang University (China). After completing her graduate studies, she held postdoctoral positions at the University of Kentucky (2012-2013) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013-2015). Prior joining UTSA in 2017, she worked for two years as a Senior Scientist at Poseida Therapeutics (La Jolla, CA). Dr. Romero’s primary research interests are the investigation of biomedical soft materials and hybrid platforms as therapeutic tools for the treatment of brain diseases. She has published numerous scientific papers in prestigious journals, including Science, Nature, Advance Functional Materials, ACS Advanced Materials & Interfaces, and Soft Matter. Dr. Romero has nearly 3 million dollars in research funding from federal agencies such as the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and the National Science Foundation, including the NSF CAREER award. Dr. Romero’s academic career philosophy is capitalized in supporting her continued development as an advocate for minority participation in advanced science and engineering education, particularly the participation and mentoring of Latinas in Engineering.