Dr. Marizaida Sánchez Cesáreo holds a doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology with a minor in Women Studies from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Currently, Sánchez-Cesáreo is the Executive Director of Instituto Tercera Misión (ITM) at Carlos Albizu University. She has extensive expertise in program development, program evaluation, capacity building, technical assistance, community based-research and evidence-based interventions.
Between 1993 and 2007 she worked in violence prevention in Illinois at the state, county and neighborhood level. For the last 12 years her work has focused in the promotion of policies, practices and programs that promote the optimal development of children and youth and in addressing health disparities that affect their lives. It is noteworthy that in collaboration with its community partners, currently her team is implementing 10 evidence-based interventions. In 2012, she spearheaded a local effort to institute the Puerto Rico Evidence Based Board (www.juntapbepr.org). Also, for the last 16 years her work has focused on the development of Parenting Fundamentals (PF), an evidence-based parenting education intervention.
Dr. Sánchez-Cesáreo current portfolio amounts to 3 million and includes 30 community-based evaluation, implementation and research projects funded by government agencies in the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as by private human service organizations seeking to respond to evaluation questions of importance to improve their policies or programs.
Cristina M. Miranda Palacios is a social and community planner. She is a member of the Executive Committee that leads the Third Mission Institute, where she serves as the Director of Planning and Development. As part of the projects, she serves as the Executive Director of the Municipal Alliance for Education and the Futuro Program, a collaboration between 4 municipalities (Cayey, Coamo, Luquillo and Villalba) that is currently impacting over 1,300 students in 12 schools.
She completed her Master’s with honors from the University of Maryland in College Park (2003), where she received the prestigious Lefrak Award for service to the community. In 2015, she completed a Graduate Certificate of Community Development from Rutgers University, Camden Campus.
As part of her commitment to social justice and equality, for the past 14 years Cristina has been a fervent collaborator of Puerto Rico’s biggest Homeless Continuum of Care, run by CoDeCo. She is also President of the Río Piedras Community Trust and collaborates with other nonprofit and community based organizations with planning sessions and the development of funding campaigns. In 2011, and with her childhood friends, she founded Sin Fin Arte, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of the third sector through the promotion of cultural events and by increasing access to the arts. Before returning to Puerto Rico in 2003, Cristina lived in Washington, DC, where she completed a professional internship at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Environmental Justice. She also worked as second in command at the Executive Office of the Mayor, Office of Latino Affairs, and at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, where she was in charge of developing alliances and identifying funding to support Latinos in higher education. She is also the Founder and President of el taller D, a consulting company that specializes in the areas of planning, capacity building, design, implementation and evaluation of programs, proposal development, among other services.
Idalie Hernández Gierbolini is Director of Administration and Finance of the Third Mission Institute. In this role, she is responsible for making decisions about the administrative activities necessary to achieve the goals of the Institute’s projects, including the planning, coordination and direction of all efforts related to the effective operation of the organizational structure and the financial and human resources.
She has a decade of experience in managing state and federal funds for research projects. As part of her academica background, she has a multidisciplinary BA with concentrations in Advertising, Marketing and Tourism of the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. In addition, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Management and Organizational Leadership at the Ana G. Mendez University. She is also part of the Society of Research Administrators of Puerto Rico.
Hector Colón Jordan is director of research with broad background in sociology and epidemiology. He has specific training and expertise in drug use epidemiology, community studies and intervention design. His research has included several population-based studies as well as difficult-to-recruit populations (e.g., intravenous drug users, adolescents residing next door to drug copping areas). As PI and co-Investigator on several NIH-funded grants, he has established strong ties with state agencies and community organizations. Colón has a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Miami and currently serves as Associate Professor of the School of Public Health, Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico.
Project Director
Programmatic Advisor
Administrative Team
Administration and Finance Associate
