Dioscaris R. Garcia, PhD
A leader in academic medicine and biomedical research, turning scientific discovery into lasting gains for institutions and the communities they serve.
First-generation Dominican immigrant, raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Across two decades he has built high-impact programs, secured competitive funding, and forged the partnerships that connect research, medical education, and healthier communities.
From Central Falls to the laboratory, and back to the community that raised him.
Dioscaris R. Garcia was born in the Dominican Republic and spent his earliest years with his grandparents, who taught him about plants, soil, and the natural world. He immigrated to the United States at eleven and made his home in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Read his storyPractical science for a stubborn problem: infection.
Dr. Garcia is a translational pharmacologist and microbiologist. For more than a decade, his laboratory at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital has developed antibiotic-independent ways to prevent infection in orthopedic surgery, work built around a silver carboxylate titanium-dioxide coating that reduces how bacteria adhere to implant materials such as PEEK, spinal rods, and titanium.
A trusted figure in Rhode Island public life.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Garcia ran community vaccination clinics and translated fast-moving science into language families could act on. That work earned municipal, state, and multiple Congressional citations. It reflected a longer pattern: a scientist willing to stand between complex institutions and the people they are meant to serve.