Yoevelyn Rodriguez\Contributing Writer
A professor at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus has been listed as the principal investigator of a national landmark launched this year by the National Institutes of Health.
Raul Gonzalez, a 40-year-old University alumnus with a bachelor in psychology and a minor in chemistry, designed a project to investigate the effects of substance use on the developing brain.
“This is a very exciting and important study because something like this has never been done before,” said Gonzalez.
The study will follow 10,000 children across America who have never used any substances like tobacco, alcohol or drugs. The kids are recruited at ages nine and ten.
The study will last for the next 10 years, with a goal of assessing the changes that occur in the children’s developing brain as they start to use substances.
Gonzalez will be following a fraction of those children who are living in South Florida.
He said that South Florida presents a unique challenge to this study because South Florida culture is different from the rest of the nation.
He hopes to observe how this cultural difference affects the study.
Gonzalez came to the United States in 1980 with his family during the Mariel boatlift, an episode in Cuban history when the regime of the island announced that all Cubans who wanted to emigrate to the U.S. could do so.
He was only 5 years old when he joined the 124,776 Cuban refugees that arrived in Florida that year, registered by the U.S. Coast Guard.
His interest in neuropsychology started in high school, when he took an advanced placement class and was surprised by the material.
“I didn’t know there was an entire science around how the brain influences human behavior, and how biological processes influence who we are,” he said.
Becoming a neuropsychologist was the result of a “gradual discovery” for Gonzalez.
After high school, his plan was to get a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then to apply to law school.
But, once he found his way into the Honors College at FIU and met psychology professor Bennett Schwartz, his plans changed.
“Dr. Schwartz was somebody very important [during] my time here at FIU,” Gonzalez said. “[He] presented me with situations and resources that really helped me along on this path.”
His journey in this field stretches into no less than $4,377,080 in research awards, eight honors and recognitions, 43 research papers and 99 presentations and abstracts combined.
According to Google Scholar, his works have been cited more than 2,000 times.
Other than teaching classes at the University and overseeing two research projects, Gonzalez is the director of continuing education for the International Neuropsychology Society, an organization dedicated to enhancing communication among scientific disciplines.
He has collaborated with other individuals, like Randi Schuster, a postdoctoral research fellow with the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
She has known Gonzalez for seven years and has co-authored more than 8 research papers with him.
“Raul was the one who really got me interested in neuropsychology,” said Schuster.
She was Gonzalez’s graduate research assistant when he was a postgraduate research fellow with the department of psychology at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Schuster said that Gonzalez is a very focused person who engages in conversation with “laser-precise attention.”
“He does have an intensity to him, but he is fun. He is great to work with,” said Schuster. “He is one of those people you are proud to say you are affiliated with.”
Gonzalez’s research projects show how substance use impacts the brain and gives the upcoming generation of researchers the opportunity to learn how this kind of work is conducted.
“We have students involved in all aspects of our projects,” Gonzalez said.
Ifrah Waheed and William Pulido are two of the six undergraduate students working as assistants in the Substance Use and HIV Neuropsychology Lab, directed by Gonzalez.
Their job is to screen applicants and make sure that only those who meet the Lab’s requirements are accepted as subjects.
Pulido thinks that one of the most inspiring characteristics of Gonzalez is how approachable he is.
“He is someone you can talk to about anything,” said Pulido. “I’m glad that I’m working beside him.”
But Waheed sees Gonzalez as the juxtaposition of relaxation and a high-octane action man.
“Looking at all he’s done, I would think he is someone who is super agitated or always doing something,” Waheed said. “But no, he is extremely mellow. He has everything under control.”
Gonzalez is excited about the opportunities to expand FIU’s research portfolio and is glad that University students are taking advantage.
“One of the beautiful things about getting involved in a lab is not just about learning the skills that the lab teaches,” said Gonzalez. “It’s also an opportunity to interact with other graduate students, postdoctoral investigators [and] people across a variety of fields in many different stages of their careers.”
-news@fiusm.com
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, Flickr
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