Omar Oropeza, BS, MBA. Director of Special Programs for the Memory & Aging Center for Dr. Gladys Maestre at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His passion, goals, and visions toward the improvement of quality of life and social integration for a better world are complemented by his diverse educational background, robust grant management experience, and other social skills and experiences. Educational achievement: He completed his post-graduate degree in software engineering and earned his master’s in business administration from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley both with Scholastic Excellence Awards Professional Experience: He amassed over 20 years of professional experience in grant management and customer service. During this time, he managed under different roles federally, state, local funded programs, and post-higher education awards such as National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Agriculture (DOAG), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (DOE), National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Aging (NIA), Universities, and many other. He was the recipient of The Senate Proclamation No. 559 by The Senate of the State of Texas for excellent customer services for military veterans during his service for a DOE grant.

At the Memory & Aging Center, he oversees operation and administration for the South Texas Alzheimer’s Center and all research studies conducted under Dr. Maestre’s leadership. In addition, with his multidisciplinary experience, he is currently exploring the association between the social and the built environment of different neighborhoods and AD like cognitive trajectories and the impact of design standards, accessibility, health benefits, and amenity spaces in a multicultural community and its diversity.