A native of San Antonio and a first-generation college graduate, Guerra received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in kinesiology under the guidance of Associate Professor John D. Smith. While completing his undergraduate degree, Guerra was a prosthetic technician for a local Specialty Prosthetics and Orthotics of Texas. Later, he attended the prosthetics program at California State University Dominguez Hills. Because he took a particular interest in research and the discipline of kinesiology, he came back to San Antonio to complete his clinical residency and studied at A&M-SA to complete his master’s degree. He practiced as a prosthetist for a little while but knew my calling was in research and assisting people in resource limited environments.

His decision to pursue a Ph.D. was made easier by the training he received at A&M-SA and the reassurance from advisors that pursuing a terminal degree was actually possible. He attended Loma Linda University’s Rehabilitation Science program and received his Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science in 2017 and began his academic career shortly thereafter first as a faculty member in a Prosthetics Orthotics program in Florida and later in Thailand.

He has dedicated the last several years of his life to building a graduate prosthetics program in Bangkok, Thailand and guiding purposeful, clinically relevant research for Southeast Asia and the world.