Xavier Portillo is a postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, where he is a Kavli-Laukien Fellow with the Origins of Life Initiative and works with Harvard Medical School. He holds a PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has received national research fellowships from the National Science Foundation and NASA and has over a decade of experience mentoring students, including founding Yale’s Graduate Undergraduate Mentorship Initiative.

Alex graduated from the University of Toronto in Canada with a bachelor's degree in Statistics and Mathematics, and later received a master's degree in Project Management from Northeastern University in the United States. With a solid background in science and engineering and practical experience in business projects, he excels at integrating data logic with academic planning, tailoring in-depth and competitive academic pathways for students.