Dr. Alarcon was born in Santiago, Chile. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Eduardo Lissi, the most cited Scientist in Chile, at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (2005) exploring the chemiluminescent mechanisms of tryptophan oxidation. He then pursued his MSc and Ph.D. training in Chemistry, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (2009). Dr. Alarcon moved to Ottawa with his wife, where he undertook postdoctoral training (2009-2014) at Dr. Tito Scaiano’s laboratory, at the University of Ottawa. With his unique skills and vision for redefining translational research, Dr. Alarcon was recruited to the Division of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in July 2014 and became an Assistant Professor in 2015, and promoted to Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa in 2020. To date Dr. Alarcón has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and has been cited more than 5,000 times (h-index=38) all in prestigious peer-reviewed journals including Nature Communications, ACS Nano, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Advanced Functional Materials, Nature Regenerative Medicine, to name a few. His early-career success is further highlighted by having been awarded over $7M in research funding from the largest federal agencies such as: NSERC (including the INTBIOTECH-CREATE), NFRF, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. He is seen as an expert in his field as evidence by invitations to provide international keynote addresses, alongside numerous recent awards including the uOttawa’s Biomedical Researcher of the Year; Nano-Ontario Outstanding Early Career Researcher in Nanotechnology and Ontario’s Early Researcher Award; University Research Chair; Member of College of New Scholars, Royal Society of Canada; Latin American leader by the Group of Latin American Ambassadors to Canada. His laboratory is an outstanding venue for high-quality interdisciplinary training with direct translational potential, having supervised +100 trainees from different fields of knowledge. Dr. Alarcón is committed to breaking down systemic barriers for underrepresented groups through EDI-focused knowledge mobilization. He created BEaTS Research Radio, a science radio program that interviews scientists and communicates novel scientific findings to Canadians regardless of age, gender and ethnicity. He conducts interviews in six different languages, and regularly incorporates discussion of EDI topics, such as recognizing unconscious bias and embracing Indigenous culture, in hopes of communicating the benefits of incorporating EDI strategies in meaningful research. His team actively prioritizes recruitment and mentorship of trainees of underrepresented groups in hopes of minimizing the systemic barriers they face. Further he is the EDI Cross-Cutting Lead for the Brain-Heart Interconnectome, a $109M grant-funded research program aimed at accelerating prevention, detection, treatment and care of brain-heart disorders. Dr. Alarcón is also member of the Disability Justice group at uOttawa, and part of the CIHR External Advisory Committee on Accessibility and Systemic Ableism. His EDI work was recognized through the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine’s Award for Leadership in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity and Accessibility (EDIIA) (2023).