Draft:Hector Jirau

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**Hector Jirau**

Hector Jirau is a Puerto Rican entrepreneur known for being the Executive Director at Parallel18[1], an international startup accelerator and a program of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust [2][3]. Born on 1993 in Puerto Rico, Jirau has made significant contributions to early-stage startup development for Puerto Rico's ecosystem [4], supporting more than 200 early-stage startups from the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, among other places in Latin America, Canada, Europe and Middle East [5].

### Early Life and Education

Jirau's early life remains largely private, with limited public information available regarding his upbringing and familial background. However, it is known that he pursued his education with diligence, obtaining a bachelor degree in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras Campus in 2014, a Master of Science in Financial Engineering from Worldquant University in and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences Campus in 2021. He also holds a Series 65 - Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination from the NASAA and is registered under FINRA as an investment advisor representative since 2019.

### Career

Following his education, Jirau embarked on a career marked by serving as the investment fund manager for Parallel18 Ventures, the accelerator's venture capital branch in 2020. His work in valuations and financial due diligence garnered attention for its mathematical perspective, integrating the scientific diligence model into an industry widely known to rely on relationship building and "spray & pray" models. In 2022, he was named Operations & Investment Director at Parallel18, now in charge of the operations of the Parallel18 Innovation hub, leading efforts in its two programs, pre18 and P18, and its subprograms Parallel18 Ventures and Parallel18 Connect [6]. In 2023, he was officially named Executive Director of Parallel18, with the departure of the previous CEO, Sebastian Vidal. He currently leads Parallel18, and is referenced to the creation of the first life sciences incubation program, BioLeap [7], funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, through parallel18.

Jirau also served as an advisor since 2021 to Unity Growth Fund LLC, a private equity firm focused on secondaries and late-stage private equity based in Virginia, USA. Its investment portfolio includes companies such as SpaceX, Anthropic AI, Figure AI, Epic Games, Stripe, and Klarna, among others.

Throughout his career, Jirau has served as a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine[8][9][10], being named and recognized in media articles in Forbes, Bloomberg [11], among other notable sources. He served as a judge for the Forbes 30 under 30 Local Puerto Rico for 2023[12]. He has been recognized for his expertise in the biomedical sciences, specifically in biotechnology, often serving as a speaker and advisor for various organizations and institutions.

As part of his career development as a scientist, Dr. Jirau performed research in environmental toxicology[13][14][15][16] and inhalation & respiratory toxicology[17] for over seven (7) years as part of the Center for Environmental and Toxicological Research at the University of Puerto Rico. He partook on the widely read study regarding the dental amalgam dilemma and the repercussion of its uses in dentistry, being cited by the ADA [13].

### Personal Life

Jirau maintains a private personal life, with limited public information available regarding his personal interests, hobbies, or family life. He is married to Debora Reyes, a Puerto Rican prosthodontist and brother of Xavier Jirau, a mechanical engineer.


This article about Hector Jirau is a work in progress. Contributions and edits from the Wikipedia community are welcomed to ensure accuracy and neutrality.

References

  1. ^ Author, Guest (2024-03-14). "Why LatAm Startup Founders Should Take A Practical, Pessimistic Approach In 2024". Crunchbase News. Retrieved 2024-04-27. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ Team, StartupBeat (2024-04-02). "Puerto Rico's P18 international accelerator opens applications for 12th edition". StartUp Beat. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  3. ^ prsciencetrust.org. "Our Team". Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  4. ^ "The Puerto Rican that sees U.S.-Latin America innovation as a two way street". Rest of World. 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  5. ^ Bignell, Francis (2023-04-18). "Em Conversa: Accelerating Puerto Rican Fintech Development with Parallel18". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  6. ^ Driver, Tom (2023-03-28). "Opportunity sparks for startups as P18 opens 11th cohort, increases regular funding by 50%". The Sociable. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  7. ^ "Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust". U.S. Economic Development Administration. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  8. ^ Jirau, Hector (2023-12-08). "Desbloqueando el crecimiento: navegando por la dinámica del mercado secundario en 2024". Entrepreneur (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  9. ^ Jirau, Hector (2023-11-21). "Cómo Estados Unidos quiere remontar la carrera de innovación mundial con nuevos hubs tecnológicos (y cómo América Latina es parte de la ecuación)". Entrepreneur (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  10. ^ Jirau, Hector (2023-10-11). "Recaudación de fondos en condiciones económicas difíciles: 7 estrategias y consejos". Entrepreneur (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  11. ^ News, Bloomberg (2022-12-19). "Funding for Latin America's Unicorns Vanishes as Venture Capital Pulls Back - BNN Bloomberg". BNN. Retrieved 2024-04-27. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ Team, Forbes Under 30. "30 Under 30 Local 2023: Puerto Rico". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-04-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b Jirau-Colón, Hector; González-Parrilla, Leonardo; Martinez-Jiménez, Jorge; Adam, Waldemar; Jiménez-Velez, Braulio (2019-01). "Rethinking the Dental Amalgam Dilemma: An Integrated Toxicological Approach". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 16 (6): 1036. doi:10.3390/ijerph16061036. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 6466133. PMID 30909378. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  14. ^ Jirau-Colón, Héctor; Cosme, Ashley; Marcial-Vega, Víctor; Jiménez-Vélez, Braulio (2020-01). "Toxic Metals Depuration Profiles from a Population Adjacent to a Military Target Range (Vieques) and Main Island Puerto Rico". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17 (1): 264. doi:10.3390/ijerph17010264. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 6994965. PMID 31905976. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  15. ^ Toro-Heredia, Jannette; Jirau-Colón, Héctor; Jiménez-Vélez, Braulio D. (2021-12). "Linking PM2.5 organic constituents, relative toxicity and health effects in Puerto Rico". Environmental Challenges. 5: 100350. doi:10.1016/j.envc.2021.100350. ISSN 2667-0100. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Jirau-Colón, Héctor; Toro-Heredia, Jannette; Layuno, Josué; Calderon, Enrique Dionisio; Gioda, Adriana; Jiménez-Vélez, Braulio D. (2021-04-01). "Distribution of toxic metals and relative toxicity of airborne PM2.5 in Puerto Rico". Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 28 (13): 16504–16516. doi:10.1007/s11356-020-11673-4. ISSN 1614-7499. PMC 7778501. PMID 33389579.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  17. ^ Jirau-Colón, Héctor; Jiménez-Vélez, Braulio D. (2024-04). "PM2.5 Extracts Induce INFγ-Independent Activation of CIITA, MHCII, and Increases Inflammation in Human Bronchial Epithelium". Toxics. 12 (4): 292. doi:10.3390/toxics12040292. ISSN 2305-6304. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
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