About Marino A. De Leon, PhD

My research focuses on restorative neuroscience and health equity. My laboratory studies molecular and cellular mechanisms important in neuroprotection, nerve regeneration, and neuropathy pain and the role of bioactive lipids and fatty acid-binding proteins in these cellular processes. I enjoy serving as a research mentor and teacher of promising high school and university-level students. I serve as director of a multidisciplinary research center focused on health disparities research and training. My research on health equity focuses on elucidating the link between biological and social determinants of health and understanding how socioeconomic stressors induce ASCOS-Augmented State of Cellular Oxidative Stress, an underlying biological mediator of health disparities. My projects in health equity and student training involve serving as the founding director of the Loma Linda University Health Disparities Research Summer Program. This long-standing pipeline program uses evidence-based interventions to increase diversity in the biomedical workforce. For more than 20 years, the pipeline program has supported the participation in the STEM fields of several hundred students from diverse backgrounds. I believe in the importance of health equity, service, and scientific scholarship to build a more inclusive, healthy, and diverse society.

Expertise: Molecular genetics, cellular neurobiology of traumatic injury in the nervous system, academic research administration, executive and community leadership, health equity/health disparities research, student training and development, development of pipeline programs in the health sciences