Irving E. Vega obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus, where he was an NIH-Minority Access for Research Careers (MARC) Fellow. Then, he continued his research training in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the Graduate School of New Brunswick, Rutgers University, earning his PhD. 

Dr. Vega proceeded to a postdoctoral fellowship in the Neuroscience Department at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, where he developed his research career focusing on identifying proteome changes associated with the accumulation of pathological tau proteins in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

As a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Vega was supported by various fellowships, including NIH-NRSA F31 and F32. In 2005, Dr. Vega established a research team as a faculty member in the Department of Biology at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus.

In 2014, Dr. Vega transferred his research program to the Department of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at Michigan State University. In addition to mentoring graduate students who successfully completed their PhD, Dr. Vega has dedicated his career to developing training programs for undergraduate students to increase diversity in the field of neuroscience. 

His dedication and commitment to mentor the next generation of researchers, especially those from underrepresented ethnic groups in science, is based on his own experiences and serves as the basis for a productive research career.

Michigan State University Translational Neuroscience Profile