Professor and Director
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus
San Juan, PR.
Email: juan.reyes5@upr.edu
Complete list of publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=historysearch&querykey=34
Dr. Juan Carlos Reyes-Pulliza received his Ed.D. from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in 2003. Dr. Reyes-Pulliza is a research associate in the Center for Addiction Studies of the Universidad Central del Caribe. He is currently Professor and Director of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the University of Puerto Rico. He has published over 40 journal articles and chapters in the areas of epidemiology of drug abuse, mental health and infectious diseases. One of his main research interests includes understanding the epidemiology and prevention of infections related to cancer development in high-risk populations (HCV, HIV and HPV). He currently serves as Principal Investigator of “Injection Risk Networks in Rural Puerto Rico (R01 DA0371170). This project has successful recruited and interviewed 346 injection drug users in rural Puerto Rico for a multi-wave risk network epidemiology study, with the goal of test, treat, retain, and collect data from two cohorts of rural injection drug users in order to parameterize computer simulations for: 1) understanding HIV-HCV infection dynamics; 2) projecting HIV-HCV infection incidence and prevalence rates; and 3) testing interventions aimed at lowering HIV incidence. Previously he served as a co-investigator on several NIH-funded grants in Puerto Rico, providing him with ample research experience in mentoring for epidemiological studies and population-based studies in both infectious and non-infectious diseases, generating multiple publications and expertise in areas that include alcohol and drug abuse, infectious diseases and cancer prevention. Among relevant studies, he was a co-principal investigator of the Puerto Rico Substance Abuse Needs Assessment Program: 2008 Household Survey aimed at estimating the prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse in Puerto Rico. He also conducted the first HCV epidemiological study among out of treatment drug users in the San Juan Metropolitan Area of Puerto Rico. Furthermore, he worked as Co- Investigator for two National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded grants: Risky Families Embedded in Risky Environments (Grant DA 15301) and Puerto Rico Drug Abuse Research Development Program (Grant DA 13335). Currently, his research is focused on the epidemiology of drug abuse and infectious diseases (specifically HIV and HCV), with the aim of understanding transmission dynamics in high-risk populations, as a way for developing future infection prevention efforts.