Jorge Casares Velazquez is Staff Scientist at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. His research focuses on the study of galactic black holes, with emphasis on the determination of their dynamical masses. He has promoted novel strategies for deriving fundamental parameters in X-ray binaries by exploiting the reprocessing of X-rays into optical line radiation. His other research interests include the study of gamma-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables and millisecond pulsars. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and the Spanish Astronomical Society.