Gustavo was born in Lima, Peru and obtained his BS in Chemistry from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. He then obtained an MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, MA. Under the guidance of Gerald B. Hammond, he discovered his passion for organic chemistry and went on to pursue a PhD in Organic Chemistry from University of Pittsburgh. Here he worked under Dennis P. Curran on Fluorous Mixture Synthesis. After finishing his PhD, he began a year-long Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Ohio State University with Leo A. Paquette. Interested in the interface of chemistry and biology, he continued his training with a Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with Derek S. Tan. In 2013, he started his academic career at Rowan University.