Dr. Peter Barbosa was raised in Añasco, Puerto Rico, and started his undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus. Dr. Barbosa finished his B.S. in biochemistry from Texas A&M University and completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Dr. Frederick completed his B.S. in Biology and Microbiology at Kansas University (KU) in Lawrence, Kansas.  (Rock Chalk!).  He then worked in vaccine development and quality assurance for the French Multinational healthcare company, Sanofi.  Later, Dr. Frederick conducted Pharmaceutical Chemistry research at KU in conjunction with scientists at Merck & Co. in Lawrence, KS. He completed his Ph.D. at the Kansas University School of Medicine in Kansas City, KS in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Frederick’s Ph.D. research was on the topic of eukaryotic gene regulation. His research developed a novel system for making targeted gene replacements in a eukaryotic system and characterized unique transcriptional regulatory elements which control expression of the gene encoding glutamate dehydrogenase.

Dr. Jalika Breaux is an assistant professor of behavioral sciences in the Department of Clinical Medicine at AUC. She is a licensed clinical psychologist, with specialization in brief, medically integrated treatments and mental health interventions for underserved populations.

Dr. Ryan Downey is an assistant professor of physiology and the Physiology II course director in the third semester curriculum.