Physiologist interested in neuroscience and neuroendocrinology, particularly examining how insults during postnatal development can exert long-lasting effects on motivational behaviors, the brain, and the reproductive system. I have worked in this field during the past 8 years as an undergraduate and graduate student in the University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine. My thesis dissertation explored the effects of the use of anabolic steroids during adolescence on addictive behaviors and the reproductive system of adult female rats. I have also done research on the effect of early life stress on anxiety behavior and the brain in adulthood.