Héc Maldonado-Reis (ENG’15, SPH’16) was a trailblazer as a Rutgers student, becoming the School of Public Health’s (SPH) first joint 4+1 student with a BS degree in biomedical engineering and an MPH in environmental and occupational health.
Since then, they have earned a master’s degrees in population health sciences from Harvard and will be receiving one in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania – all of which have informed Maldonado-Reis's role as the managing director of impact strategy at Tech Impact, a Philadelphia-based non-profit, since July 2024, where they formerly served as director of research development and analytics.
Their team assists US non-profits in strategically aligning their missions, operations, and technology infrastructures. “Our work spans consulting, measurement and evaluation, and implementation services. We approach our work holistically,” they say. “Our nonprofit partners come from all social sectors, which requires us to be hyper aware of and knowledgeable about diverse aspects of the US social welfare system.”
“Think of our work as an ecosystem approach to improving social impact via capacity building and leveraging innovations in technology,” Maldonado-Reis adds.
“Engineers are good at systems thinking and often reach across disciplines,” they explain. One of the best skills I gained from SoE was the ability to ‘build' ideas abstractly. While studying BME, I wouldn’t have quite imagined that the approach to defining simple/singular models for tissue engineering would translate so well to social systems.”
Maldonado-Reis recalls that “Eventually the US public health system became a landscape I dedicated myself to optimizing. I likely wouldn’t have flourished early in my career as a data scientist, had it not been for the critical thinking and analytical exposure I received while at SoE.”
A Full-Circle Moment
Photo by Raymond Clinkscale
On May 9, the Puerto Rican native was honored by SPH with its 2025 Alumni Award, which recognizes their innovative data science work focused on translation and social change.
“I’m extremely humbled by this recognition. I’m a Queer Latine, and our stories have not been told as often as they should be by now,” Maldonado-Reis says. “Personally, I hope this award serves as an encouragement for other members of my community to follow their passions. Professionally, it’s a full-circle moment for me to be recognized by the very folks who helped launch me into the sector.”
Mark Gregory Robson, distinguished professor, associate vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, nominated Maldonado-Reis for the prestigious SPH award. “I think Héc is a great role model for our current students and has done some pretty amazing things under some difficult circumstances. Héc is brave, kind and incredibly decent and is someone I hold in high esteem. I am very proud of Héc.”
It Takes a RU Village
Looking back, Maldonado-Reis reflects that “I’ve met some of the brightest, most talented and kind people from across the world while at Rutgers – and many of them are now part of the village that helps advance my work and vision. Much of what I am proud of today, was born here.”
Maldonado-Reis, who was also named an Alumni Industry Scholar as an undergraduate, freely admits that they have always followed the beat of their own drum. “I’m not afraid to be a pioneer, and I’m mindful of our collective humanity. If anything, I want to continue breaking the barriers between disciplines and all sorts of differences, because that’s where true innovation lies.”
