Adrian Rivera-Reyes

He/Him

I am gay and I am a cancer biologist.//

I’m a gay Puerto Rican cancer biology PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). I’m also an LGBTQ+ rights advocate, union organizer, and a prospective candidate for Philadelphia City Council at-Large. If elected on November 2019, I will become the youngest and first openly out Councilmember in Philadelphia’s history. At the University of Pennsylvania, I have worked in understanding adult soft tissue sarcoma in order to develop targeted therapies and treatments. I was fortunate to lead the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group for three years. This experience allowed me to act as a policy analyst for fellow scientist and US Congressional Candidate, Molly Sheehan. As a member of the external affairs committee of our graduate student assembly, I visited and met with US Senators and Congresspeople in Washington, DC to advocate for student’s rights, fight against the tax overhaul, and push for sensible on campus sexual harassment policies across the country. I have also worked with the Office of Research and Diversity Training at Penn to recruit, increase and retain the number of diversity trainees. Moreover, in 2017 I was one of the co-chairs for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Philadelphia March for Science.

Twitter, Instagram and FB page: @adrianforphilly