Mission & Vision
Environmental exposure science, immunology, and computational innovation converging on equitable respiratory, immune, and environmental health.
Our vision
The RIPLRT Institute envisions a future where environmental exposure science, immunology, and computational innovation converge to advance equitable respiratory health for all communities.
We strive to become a nationally recognized leader in environmental immunology by transforming biological and non-biological exposure data into predictive, translational, and prevention-focused solutions that improve respiratory health outcomes across diverse populations.
Through collaborative, mentee-driven research and interdisciplinary training, we aim to empower the next generation of scientific leaders while reducing respiratory health disparities in Puerto Rico, underserved communities, and beyond.
Our mission
Our mission is to advance equitable respiratory and environmental health through interdisciplinary research integrating exposure science, immunology, biomarker discovery, computational biology, and data-driven innovation.
We lead collaborative, multi-cohort studies leveraging biospecimens, wearable exposure assessment, molecular profiling, and advanced AI/ML modeling to identify critical environmental risk windows and distinguish biological from non-biological drivers of respiratory disease across diverse populations.
By translating discoveries into clinician- and community-facing tools, RIPLRT bridges science, technology, and public health to improve outcomes in Puerto Rico and underserved communities.
The RIPLRT Institute is a mentee-powered environmental immunology and respiratory health equity research group that trains students and early-career scientists to convert exposure, clinical, biomarker, and computational data into equitable decision tools for Puerto Rico, the Caribbean basin, South Florida, and the southern coastal United States.
Our one-sentence identity, from the RIPLRT Institute Research Group Manual
One through-line connects every project
Our portfolio is broad, but it is not scattered. We measure environmental signals where people live, work, and breathe; link them to clinical, claims, biomarker, and repository-based outcomes; and convert them into equity-aware decision tools that return to the communities and clinicians who need them.
- Community
Exposure science
Bioaerosols and fungal spores, airway microbiome and mycobiome, PM2.5, NO2, chemical and physical pollutants, meteorology, and wearable exposure streams.
- Clinic
Immune & biochemical bioactivity
Connecting exposures to immune and inflammatory biomarkers and to the biological and biochemical pathways they trigger.
- Clinic
Biomarker discovery
Identifying and interpreting biomarkers, and linking exposures and biomarkers to clinical, claims, pharmacy, and repository-based outcomes.
- Cloud
Computational modeling
AI/ML, distributed-lag and mixed-effects models, and equity-aware metrics to forecast exposure-linked respiratory risk windows in reproducible pipelines.
- Translation
Equity-focused translation
Clinician-facing dashboards, community risk briefs, public-health playbooks, and peer-reviewed science.
- Across every step
Inclusive workforce development
Mentees embedded as active contributors in immunology, exposure science, environmental and respiratory health, computational biology, and data science.
Why equity is structural, not symbolic
The communities we study — in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and coastal and tropical regions — face converging extreme weather, bioaerosol, pollution, and respiratory-health challenges and are often under-resourced and underrepresented in research. Equity is therefore built into the science itself: we stratify analyses by community, age, sex, and other relevant axes; we report equity-stratified performance; and we translate findings into bilingual materials communities can actually use. Equity is a design requirement of our pipelines, not a line in a diversity statement.
An independent Institute
The RIPLRT Institute operates under Félix E. Rivera-Mariani, PhD LLC. It is an independent research and mentoring organization and is not an entity, department, or administrative unit of the institutions with which Dr. Rivera-Mariani is affiliated, including Lynn University and the University of Puerto Rico.
Members who join through Lynn University carry out their work under the Educational Biomarker Discovery Lab (EBDL), the Lynn University–housed branch through which RIPLRT-affiliated research is conducted, subject to Lynn University policy. Members from other institutions, or who join independently, are mentored directly under the Institute. Where institutional policy, IRB protocols, sponsor terms, or applicable law differ from our Research Group Manual, institutional policy governs. Views expressed on this site are those of the Institute and its members, not of any affiliated institution.
Core values that guide every project
Our values are not decoration. They must be visible in daily behaviors and documented practices — what we reward, how we run meetings, how we resolve conflict, and how we assign credit.
Preserved from our founding
- Inclusiveness
- Multidisciplinary focus
- Diversity
- Integrity
- Productivity
- Innovation
- Excellence
- Collaboration
- Leadership
Added for the 2026 program
- Psychological safety
- Reproducibility
- Transparency
- Health equity
- Community responsiveness
- Bilingual science communication
- Responsible AI
How each value becomes a practice is spelled out in the Vision, Mission, and Core Values chapter of our Research Group Manual.