From Cayey to Charleston: Navigating Unfamiliar Territory

As the Bioengineering auditorium filled with fellow CGS students and faculty for the Diversity Alumni Speaker Series, excitement filled the room in anticipation of Dr. Jose Pena-Bravo’s reflection on his unique professional and personal journey. Pena-Bravo is a recent alumnus of MUSC, where he earned his doctorate in the Department of Neuroscience from the College of Graduate Studies. As a fellow Neuroscience graduate student and Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) scholar, I wanted to take this opportunity to walk in his shoes as another minority navigating the research realm.

Pena-Bravo is no stranger to uprooting his life to pursue his dreams. He is a native of Puerto Rico, where he graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey. He then attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as a PREP scholar. There, among other minority students, he built a strong network and support system away from home. Next, he was accepted into the Ph.D. program here at MUSC, where he studied the neurobiology of cocaine addiction in the lab of Antonieta Lavin, Ph.D. Pena-Bravo admitted that one of the main reasons he joined this lab was because she was the only faculty that looked like him. The comfort of just knowing a fellow Latino resonated with him and proved to be an integral apart of his training experience.  

“With all of Pena-Bravo’s family and wife being located in Puerto Rico, he was left helplessly wondering about their well-being during the wrath of Hurricane Maria. But it was during these times that Pena-Bravo experienced true support from his friends and IMSD support system here in Charleston, which are moments that he will forever cherish.”

-- Vivian Chioma, M.D., Ph.D. Student

In addition to the rigor of professional school, Pena-Bravo experienced several unexpected and devastating setbacks along the way, but he remained resilient in the face of adversity. He was hospitalized after breaking his leg due to a sports injury, which caused interrupted experiments, delayed deadlines, and unexpected medical bills. In addition, with all of Pena-Bravo’s family and wife being located in Puerto Rico, he was left helplessly wondering about their well-being during the wrath of Hurricane Maria.  But it was during these times that Pena-Bravo experienced true support from his friends and IMSD support system here in Charleston, which are moments that he will forever cherish. 

 After successfully defending his thesis, he moved back to Puerto Rico briefly with hopes of joining a research lab as a postdoctoral scholar. However, due to funding limitations, Pena-Bravo instead took on a visiting lecturer position at the Universidad del Turabo. While he was not receiving any financial compensation for this, he gained much more.  With a background in addiction biology, he had quite the learning curve to teach graduate Environmental Toxicology. But he made the most of this experience and thoroughly enjoyed stepping out of his comfort zone to learn a completely unfamiliar subject. 

During his time teaching, Pena-Bravo was still actively looking for postdoctoral positions, mainly at locations that were compatible with his wife’s clinical training. Through what seemed like complete serendipity, Pena-Bravo was connected with a principal investigator at the University of Florida in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics by a former postdoctoral scholar at MUSC who happened to be interviewing there at the time. Somehow, Pena-Bravo was able to bypass the standard job interview and secure a position in the Wesson Lab, studying the olfactory system, a field with which he is completely unfamiliar. This new challenge excites him as it will teach him to keep an open mind about new research questions to pursue. 

 Pena-Bravo has been a true example of persistence and resilience as he has made the most of unexpected circumstances. He strives to be able to serve as an example for other minority students hoping to break into the STEM field. Ultimately, he hopes to return to Puerto Rico to open a lab and provide opportunities for other aspiring scientists. 

 As a minority M.D./Ph.D. trainee, my journey has also been filled with many unanticipated challenges, both personal and professional. Similar to Pena-Bravo, I have learned to be resilient during unexpected circumstances and continue to persist onwards to turn these challenges into learning opportunities for growth and development.