About Dr. Rosselló

Ricardo Rosselló is a trailblazing leader with a diverse background spanning biomedical research, public service, and business innovation. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering and Biotechnology from the University of Michigan and completed post-doctoral studies in neuroscience at Duke University. As a tenure-track professor and investigator, Dr. Rosselló made significant contributions to stem cell research and regenerative medicine, publishing in prestigious journals and earning recognition from the Iberoamerican Academy of Science and Culture.

In 2017, Dr. Rosselló became the youngest governor in Puerto Rico’s history, steering the island through an unprecedented series of challenges including fiscal crisis, devastating hurricanes, and social unrest. He enacted sweeping reforms in education, healthcare, energy, and economic development, achieving the lowest unemployment and poverty rates in Puerto Rico’s history. Governor Rosselló secured historic levels of federal recovery funding and gained national prominence as a speaker on climate change, equality, and emergency response.

As Chief Visionary Officer of the Regenerative Medicine Institute, Dr. Rosselló is now pioneering cutting-edge cellular therapeutics to extend healthy human lifespan. He also serves as a Congressional Delegate for Puerto Rico, elected through an unprecedented write-in campaign.

Throughout his multifaceted career, Dr. Rosselló has demonstrated visionary leadership, innovative thinking, and a tireless commitment to tackling the toughest challenges facing society. His unique blend of scientific expertise, executive acumen, and policy savvy positions him as a transformational leader for our time.

Reforms

During his tenure as Governor of Puerto Rico, Dr. Ricardo Rosselló enacted sweeping reforms to improve Puerto Ricans’ lives and set the island on a path toward greater prosperity and equality.

Key reforms included:

Education: Focused on children first as opposed to administrators. Implemented a comprehensive education reform encompassing school choice, organizational improvements, transparency measures, and voucher programs.
Healthcare: Introduced a new healthcare model that expanded coverage, guaranteed access for all, established a Medicaid fraud detection unit and implemented a medical malpractice framework.
Climate Change: Took decisive action to reduce carbon emissions by 50% within seven years and established adaptation strategies.
Energy: Launched an ambitious energy reform plan to achieve 42% renewable energy by 2023 and 100% by 2050. Focused on transforming a decades-old government-run energy system. Spearheaded privatization of the transmission of energy.
Permits: Streamlined the permitting process, reducing the time required to obtain permits by 80%.
Equal pay for equal work for women.
Anti-Corruption: Created an anti-corruption committee, established the Office of the Inspector General, created a registry for visibility of lobbyists, and implemented a transformational procurement reform.
LGBTQ+ Rights: Abolished conversion therapy by executive order, established anti-bullying protocols, included LGBTQ+ couples in domestic violence protections and created the first-ever LGBTQ+ Governor’s Advisory Council.
Public Safety: Reduced crime and murder rates by 20% during his tenure.
Pensions: Embarked on a pension reform that saved and guaranteed payments through a pay-as-you-go system, the first of its kind in the U.S.
Elderly Rights: Created a bill of rights for the elderly.
Labor reform: Helping produce the lowest unemployment rates in the history of Puerto Rico (at that point).
Government downsizing: This involved reducing the size of an enormous and bloated government. Forty entities were downsized, and payroll was reduced by 20%.
Tax reform and incentives code: 2 billion back to taxpayers in tax reductions, incentive codes to bring companies and individuals to the island, created a child tax credit, created earned income tax credit.
Pensions Reform: Embarked on pensions reform that saved and guaranteed payment with operational expenses after the pensions fund was completely decimated one month after the administration started. Avoided pension cuts
Social Security for Police Officers
Creation of a Recovery Office: Built a novel entity to carry out recovery and reconstruction
Largest bond restructuring in the history of the US.
Secured over 19.9 billion dollars from Congress in recovery funding for the island in a bi-partisan effort, this being the single largest grant from the federal government in the history of Puerto Rico.
Created the framework to legalize medical marijuana, sports booking, e-sports, hemp, and blockchain.
Local freedom of information act.
Created the Destination Marketing Organization, which spearheaded record numbers for tourists and the visitor economy in Puerto Rico.

These reforms demonstrate Dr. Rosselló’s commitment to tackling Puerto Rico’s most pressing issues and his ability to drive meaningful change through innovative policy solutions.

Delegation

In a historic first, Dr. Ricardo Rosselló was elected as a Congressional Delegate for Puerto Rico via direct nomination (write-in), making him the first person to achieve this feat. As a delegate, he is working tirelessly to address the inequality faced by over 3 million U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico who are disenfranchised and lack voting representation in Congress.

Despite Puerto Ricans expressing their desire for statehood in three consecutive plebiscites, progress in Congress has been slow. Dr. Rosselló’s vision is to secure equality and a better quality of life for Puerto Ricans by providing a path toward statehood. His mission is to apply external pressure on Congress to pass legislation, such as H.R. 1522/S. 780, which offers Puerto Rico the choice of statehood and ensures that the decision is binding.

To achieve this, Dr. Rosselló is focusing on several key objectives:

Organizing districts and leveraging the power of the 5.3 million Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. mainland.
Engaging with House and Senate members to advocate for Puerto Rico’s status issue and the passage of H.R. 1522.
Developing a robust communications and media strategy to amplify the message and garner support.
Building coalitions with NGOs, civil rights organizations, and special interest groups to gain leverage and visibility.
Planning and executing events to draw national attention to the cause.
Pursuing legal avenues to challenge the current undemocratic and unjust system in Puerto Rico.
Participating in local, national, and international forums on issues related to voting rights, democracy, racial and citizen equality.
Engaging with constituents in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland through meetings and town halls.

As part of this effort, Dr. Rosselló created the Extended Delegation, which has grown to over 20,000 delegates across all 50 states and territories as of June 2024. This initiative aims to extend the reach and impact of the delegation beyond those officially elected.

Dr. Rosselló’s tireless efforts as a Congressional Delegate are centered on securing the rights and representation that Puerto Ricans deserve as U.S. citizens. His comprehensive approach, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, coalition building, and public engagement, is crucial in fighting for equality and self-determination.

Foundation

It is the mission of the foundation established by former Governor Dr. Ricardo Rosselló and Beatriz Rosselló to create a platform for discussing relevant public policy issues that will impact social development in the future, and to make meaningful contributions to vulnerable sectors. In this context, there are two main pillars to be worked on:

Statehood and Equality for Puerto Rico: (Puerto Rico is the oldest and most populated colonial territory in the world.) The effort for decolonization and achieving equality for American citizens residing in Puerto Rico through statehood.
The Radical Middle space: Exploring and developing a space for the radical center, where the values and objectives of this majority group in society can be identified. Key to this effort is the use of science and reason, fostering an open space to listen to and appreciate different points of view, with a view towards constructive political engagement. Not left, not right – but forward.
Supporting the most vulnerable: Beatriz Rosselló was characterized for her work empowering communities, using public art to inspire and promote growth, and helping those most in need. As part of the foundation, they are identifying causes that help these vulnerable populations and we can serve as a connector to donors (or donate themselves). In the past, the foundation has supported St. Jude’s, Rayitos de Esperanza, Centro Raquel, Fundacion Superheroes, Clean Energy Innovation Program, and TLC animal rescue, amongst others.

These pillars characterize the personal, professional, and political formation of Dr. Ricardo Rosselló and Beatriz Rosselló. All of these topics are highlighted in the book “The Reformer’s Dilemma.”

The foundation is in its early stages of development. Donations can be made here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=63RTXAWTPENKQ