Omar was an undergraduate biology student from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. During the summer of 2009, he studied the mechanisms of germ line specification in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus. The Leadership Alliance and MARC program supported this summer research opportunity. Omar completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon at Washington University in St. Louis. Omar is currently a Specialist in Gut Microbial Ecology at Nestlé.