Dr. Rodriguez is Director of the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Prior to the NCI, he was Director of the Cell & Tissue Measurements Group, Director of the Tissue Engineering program, Principal Scientist in the DNA Damage and Repair program, and Program Analyst (Office of the Director), at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  Dr. Rodriguez’s research has focused on understanding mechanisms of cancer and age-related diseases, including the development of molecular-based technologies in basic, translational, and clinical science.

Dr. Rodriguez has led the development of NCI’s clinical proteomic and proteogenomic research programs, which today includes the world’s largest public repository of proteogenomic sequence data and targeted fit-for-purpose assays.  These efforts led to the formation of two Cancer Moonshot initiatives – the International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium (ICPC) and the Applied Proteogenomics OrganizationaL Learning and Outcomes (APOLLO) network, of which he developed and co-developed.  Dr. Rodriguez’s honors include Presidential Citation, American Association for Clinical Chemistry; NIH Director’s Award, National Institutes of Health; NCI Director’s Award, National Cancer Institute, NIH; Wertheim Global Medical Leadership Award, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University; and Leveraging Collaboration Award, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  He has authored more than 250 scientific articles, which include 122 original research papers in peer-reviewed journals, including co-editing a best-selling book on oxidative stress and aging.  Dr. Rodriguez received his B.S. in biology/chemistry and M.S. in biology/toxicology from Florida International University, Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Boston University, and M.B.A. in finance and management from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School.  Research fellowships were conducted at The Scripps Research Institute (Department of Immunology) and at City of Hope National Medical Center (Department of Medical Oncology).