Marino A. Bruce, PhD, MSRC, MDiv is Associate Dean for Research in the University of Houston College of Medicine as well as Professor and Director of the Program for Research on Faith, Justice, and Health in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the College. Dr. Bruce is a sociologist who examines the full range of determinants as they relate to the onset and progression of chronic diseases among African American males over the life course and across generations. This work has been supported by the NIH predoctoral, postdoctoral and early career research awards, and related publications can be found in leading nephrology, public health, and men’s health journals. He is a former editor of Research on Race and Ethnic Relations, current associate editor of Ethnicity and Disease and Behavioral Medicine, and co-editor of two recent books, Men’s Health Equity and Racism: Science and Tools for the Public Health Professional. Dr. Bruce has earned graduate degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling and Divinity and has served African American congregations as an ordained Baptist minister for over two decades. His current work leverages professional, educational, and clerical experiences as well as pilot funding from the National Institute of Aging to develop and evaluate comprehensive biopsychosocial models that specify how faith can “get under the skin” to slow declines in physical and cognitive functioning among African American men during middle and late life. This work has gained international attention as it has been featured on numerous global media outlets including USA Today, The Today Show, and Time Magazine.
Dr. Bruce has been an active member of IAPHS as he has attended all but the first annual meeting and has served on the Program, Awards, and Nominating committees over the past two years. He is Principal Investigator for Obesity Health Disparities PRIDE program (OHD PRIDE), a research training and mentoring program for underrepresented faculty, and is actively working to integrate IAPHS into OHD PRIDE. He earned a PhD in Sociology from North Carolina State University and received postdoctoral training in Family Medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in Biobehavioral Health from Duke University.