The Reformer’s Dilemma was recently named a Finalist in the American Book Fest “Best Book” Awards
Ricardo Rossello never intended to be in politics. Or in science. But somehow, he wound up as a leader in both.
“When I was growing up, I was focused on tennis and friends. I hated math, and politics was my Dad’s thing.”
Rossello’s father is former Governor Pedro Rossello, who served from 1993-2001. He was a major voice in the Statehood movement, and he passed on that passion to his son.
“It’s always been clear to me that Puerto Rico deserves Statehood,” says Rossello. “It’s common sense, but it’s been perpetually blocked by narrow political interests with an outsized influence on blocking things that everyone wants.”
Clear-eyed statements like that made Rossello a popular political voice in Puerto Rico. In the early 2010s, Rossello’s regular columns in the island’s largest newspaper, El Vocero, succinctly laid out a scientific approach to solving the island’s political issues. The articles also consistently argued for Statehood. And they were convincing.
But in the early 2010s, Rossello was primarily a scientist, not a politician or journalist. He was a professor and Principal Investigator at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, hard at work reprogramming stem cells to regenerate tissue and to fight endemic diseases such as cancer.
“Stem cells are my true passion. While in college, I was uncertain of my path, bouncing from one interest to another. Then, in a class taught by Robert Langer, one of the world’s leading scientists, I heard something that changed everything. He stood before us, his hair a mess, papers spilling out of his bag, and asked, ‘What if there was a resource that could regenerate every tissue in the body, one with almost infinite potential?’ That question lit a fire in me. I knew that was what I wanted to pursue.”
Rossello received a degree in biomedical engineering from MIT in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. from Michigan and post-doc research in Neuroscience at Duke, where he focused on reprogramming stem cells and the vocal learning pathway.
While pursuing these complex professional goals, Rossello’s successful side gig as a political columnist got him elected President of the New Progressive Party in 2016. He was the Party’s candidate for Governor, where he defeated three other candidates with a platform to radically reform the way government functioned. For two years, he was largely successful in implementing his Plan for Puerto Rico, applying his scientific approach and a results-minded commitment to the island’s stakeholders. He reduced the size of government by 20% by targeting corruption and graft, committed the island to a carbon-zero future, and enacted strong protections for marginalized groups.
But two things ultimately blocked the full implementation of Rossello’s Plan – 2017’s Hurricane Maria, one of the country’s most damaging natural disasters ever, just nine months into his term; and 2019’s Telegramgate (also known as “RickyLeaks”) during which private chats between Rossello and some cabinet members were released by political opponents, revealing vulgar and offensive language and causing mass protests leading to his resignation. (Interestingly, the content of the chats was demonstrated to be edited, unoriginal, and manipulated by an independent prosecutor.)
Thus, Rossello’s highly effective approach to governing and implementing sweeping reforms has been somewhat overshadowed. He has accepted responsibility for the actions that led him to resign. But he also has some clear-eyed lessons from the other side of scandal.
So, while serving as Chief Visionary Officer of the Regenerative Medicine Institute (RMI Health), leading some of the world’s most cutting-edge research into longevity and cellular aging, Rossello found time to indulge his political writing side gig once again, penning a bestseller, The Reformer’s Dilemma and the Need for a Radical Middle, a memoir of sorts of his experiences as a reformist Governor, alongside a potent call for action to the 80% of us in the Political Middle, overpowered by two loud, angry political extremes who define themselves by their refusal to compromise.
Rossello’s call for a reasonable, results-driven, rational political movement has struck a chord in this chaotic election season, garnering recognition as a Finalist in the American Book Fest “Best Book” Awards in the Social Change category. His stories of preparing for and then recovering from Hurricane Maria, combined with his candid assessment of working with former President Donald Trump on negotiations for aid, make for riveting reading and has brought the book significant media attention.
“Trump and I had an interaction while we were flying over some of the damage that really shocked me, and I wrote about it mainly because I thought it was a glimpse into the political phenomena that President Trump is. The book shows what I perceive to be the good and the bad.”
The former President noted that nature has a way of coming back – then said, “Well it does until it does not. Who knows with nuclear warfare what will happen? But I tell you what. If nuclear war happens, we won’t be second in line pressing the button.”
This clear statement of nuclear policy from the former and, very possibly, the next Commander in Chief of the world’s largest military was rightly excerpted by the nation’s media. It also serves as a profound example of the book’s central thesis – when the political extremes get their way, which they so often do, the outcome is usually something that nobody wants.
