Flores earned his doctorate in chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, and began his career in the San Diego biotechnology industry at BD Biosciences Pharmigen. He has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility in R&D, marketing, business development and technology commercialization. His professional career includes Biosite, where he helped design, initiate, negotiate and monitor clinical trials; and later Chemicon (now Millipore-Sigma), where he managed R&D, worldwide clinical-trial operations, and marketing activities for diagnostic products. While at Millipore-Sigma, Flores also created the world-wide Scientific Collaborations and Business Development group, tasked with working with academic partners across the globe for the development of early-stage academic research. Most recently, Flores served as Vice President of Business Development and Technology Transfer for the Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, where he focused on fostering the entrepreneurial ecosystem for startups in Los Angeles.