Scholar Spotlight: Reinaldo Franqui Machin

Meet 🤝 Reinaldo Franqui Machin, PracticePro Scholar and Howard University School of Law, Class of 2022.

Question: Where are you working this summer? Reinaldo: Centro para Puerto Rico.

Question: What practice areas are you interested in? Reinaldo: Intellectual Property Law in Pharmaceuticals and Scientific Policy Regulation.

Question: What would you like to highlight about your prior work experience? Reinaldo: While finishing my PhD in Molecular Biology I uncovered a novel chemotherapy resistance mechanism in the blood cancer Multiple Myeloma, and found a way to overcome that drug resistance in pre-clinical models.

Question: What inspired you to pursue a legal career? Reinaldo: I love new technologies and the positive impact they have on society, and patent law would allow me to stay at the forefront of scientific innovation by having continuous conversations with scientists about their most exciting discoveries. Also, I am very interested in promoting evidenced-based decisions within government and ensuring that proper regulations are implemented in academia and the private sector so that scientific endeavors can remain promising, but also responsible and sustainable.

Question: What do you do for fun? Reinaldo: I love to play my guitar and sing with my friends, who are also musicians or singers, it makes for amazing get togethers.

Question: What is your favorite quote, and why? Reinaldo: One of my favorite quotes is by Carl Sagan, "We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." That quote gives me a profound sense of kinship with the rest of the world because, in a very real way, we share a common heritage with everything around us... and I think that is pretty cool.

Question: What’s next on your bucket list? Reinaldo: Write my very own book.

Question: Is there anything else that you would like for us to share about you? Reinaldo: I have my own science and law communication and outreach website and podcast, Bench 2 Bench. The name comes from my professional transition from science to law (i.e. from a laboratory bench to a legal bench), and I use it to write about complex legal and scientific terms for general audiences in hopes that it will increase scientific and legal literacy within the general population. I also interview professionals that are carrying out projects that have a positive impact in their communities.