Omar Oropeza

Omar Oropeza, MBA, is director for the Alzheimer Disease Research 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 and robust grant management experience. Omar 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.

Omar 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 Education (DOE), National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Aging (NIA), among others. He was the recipient of The Senate Proclamation by The Senate of the State of Texas for excellent customer services for military veterans. 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.

Aside from doing financial administration, grant management, IT consultation, and research, Omar, as a semi-professional dancer, is also interested in the science of dance and dance as a critical component to improve quality of life and aging well and community integration.