A Nuyorican from the South Bronx, Dr. Marné Castillo has made her home in Philadelphia since 1999. She has dedicated her career to working with adolescents, starting over 20 years ago in New York City public school conflict resolution programs. She completed her graduate studies at Temple University, acquiring her Master’s in Education and a PhD in Public Health. Currently, she oversees community-based HIV prevention research at the Adolescent Initiative at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where she has worked since 2002. At CHOP she is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the National HIV Behavioral Survey for young men who have sex with men for CHOP, and Project POSSE, a community level research project serving the House and Ball Community.
Dr. Castillo will serve as the PI on the new protocols under Adolescent Trials Network recently awarded NICHD U19 funding structure, as well as continue to lead the Connect to Protect Project, an Adolescent Trials Network community mobilization and HIV primary prevention initiative. She has contributed to several peer reviewed articles, lectures locally about community based research, and sits on many HIV prevention community groups as well as non-profit boards. Her work is inspired by a commitment to empower youth to achieve and maintain wellness and that ensure that appropriate services and knowledgeable, supportive providers exist to help them.
SRV: Philadelphia
Institution: CHOP
Site: Philadelphia
