Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine & Member of the Cancer Biology and Women’s Health Divisions at the Ponce Research Institute
Email: garmaiz@psm.edu
Dr. Guillermo N. Armaiz-Pena is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine and a Member of the Cancer Biology and Women’s Health Divisions at the Ponce Research Institute. He earned a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Experimental Therapeutics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Armaiz-Pena has a broad background in women’s cancer biology, with specific training and expertise in breast and ovarian cancer biology and animal models. As a trainee, Dr. Armaiz-Pena studied how behavioral stress promoted women’s cancer progression. He also collaborated on several projects incorporating in vitro, in vivo, and clinical data into novel contributions in cancer biology, therapeutics, and neuroendocrine effects on cancer progression. As PI or Co-Investigator on several private, state, and NIH-sponsored grants (including U54-, U01- and R01-level grants), he has established primary cancer cell cultures, identified biopsychosocial factors that affect cancer survivors, assessed the role of adrenergic signaling on tumor cell DNA damage, and studied the effect of psychological stress on tumor-associated immune cells. Most recently, Dr. Armaiz-Pena’s group has been investigating the impact of behavioral stress on inflammation and immunosuppression processes in ovarian cancer and leading a community-based participatory research program to improve mental health in cancer survivors and caregivers. Dr. Armaiz-Pena has served in several NIH study sections and is a member of the editorial board of BMC Cancer and Frontiers in Oncology. He was named Research Fellow by the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and received the AFLAC Scholar-in-Training Award from the AACR, among others. Dr. Armaiz Pena has mentored more than 40 Hispanic/Latino trainees at all education levels, including several graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.