MARINO A. BRUCE, PH.D., M.S.R.C., M.DIV. 

Marino A. Bruce, Ph.D., M.S.R.C., M.Div., is associate dean for research at the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine and is responsible for maintaining and expanding the research infrastructure of the college. In addition, he is a clinical professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences who contributes to research missions of the college and university as a faculty member and research investigator respectively.

A sociologist with an interdisciplinary background, Bruce examines the full range of determinants as they relate to the onset and progression of chronic diseases among high risk under-resourced populations over the life course and across generations. His early work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) predoctoral, postdoctoral and early career research awards that led to high profile publications in leading nephrology, public health, and men’s health journals. Dr. Bruce has published over 120 peer-reviewed article and book chapters, served as editor of five (5) books, and is currently Principal Investigator or Multiple Principal Investigator on grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute on Aging, and National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH.

Dr. Bruce is also active in several professional societies. He co-leads a Community and Faith-based Research Subcommittee at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and serves as a standing member Lifestyle Change and Behavioral Health Study Section for the Risk, Prevention and Health Behavior Integrated Review Group of Center for Scientific Review at NIH. Dr. Bruce is also serving a five-year appointment on the Publications Committee of the American Public Health Association where is leading a taskforce creating the ‘Determinants of Health’ book series to be published by APHA press.

Bruce earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Davidson College and master’s degrees in rural sociology, divinity, and rehabilitation counseling from North Carolina State University, Piedmont Theological Seminary, and Winston Salem State University, respectively. He earned his doctorate 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.

He is also an ordained Baptist minister and is committed to leveraging his professional, educational, and clerical experiences to improve health among marginalized populations. His current work – 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 men from under-resourced populations during middle and late life – has been featured by numerous global media outlets, including USA Today, The Today Show, and Time Magazine.