Fernando I. Rivera, Ph.D. serves as the founding Director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub. He is Professor of Sociology, and is already leading the way with work in the fields of medical sociology/sociology of health, race and ethnicity and the sociology of disasters. Rivera has been studying the movement of Puerto Ricans to the Central Florida community for over 10 years and has studied the differential patterns of health among Puerto Ricans in the United States by analyzing different social indicators such as: perceived discrimination, residential segregation and socioeconomic status and their impact on Puerto Rican health.