Idhaliz Flores, PhD, is molecular biologist with 20+ years of experience in research on Women’s health, endometriosis and pelvic pain. Dr. Flores is Professor of Basic Sciences and Ob-Gyn at Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU), in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and Chair of the Division of Women’s Health of the Ponce Research Institute (PRI). She has been involved in endometriosis research, studying molecular biomarkers and genetic/epigenetic and immunological factors associated with this disease.
She currently directs the Endometriosis Research Program (ERP) at the PRI, which consists of students-in-training, collaborating experts, a patient registry and a biorepository of annotated serum and DNA. Research at ERP has helped establish the prevalence of endometriosis in Puerto Rico, discover potential diagnostic markers in blood, and identify genetic variants associated with endometriosis and/or infertility. More recently, her team has conducted studies on the impact of endometriosis on life course, mental health and work productivity, and on health system utilization trends and costs. Her collaborative work with a team of physiologists and neuroscientists has led to the first demonstration of the negative impact of stress on disease presentation using the rat model of endometriosis, and on the alleviation that results from stress management interventions such as environmental enrichment in both the rat model and in patients.
Dr. Flores is member of the Board of Directors of ENDOPR (Fundación Puertorriqueña de Pacientes con Endometriosis), a member of UNIENDO (an alliance of endometriosis patient associations in Latin America/Spain), member of the Board of the World Endometriosis Society (WES), and co-founder and Chair of the Scientific Board of Sur 180 Therapeutics, a start-up devoted to the development of novel drugs for endometriosis. More recently, she is the Chief Scientific Officer for Nura Health, a start-up company that develops non-invasive diagnostics for endometriosis.