Leslie Castelo-Soccio, M.D., Ph.D.
Leslie Castelo-Soccio, M.D., Ph.D. is the NIAMS Associate Director of Clinical Research. In this role she serves as clinical science advisor for the institute, working closely with other NIAMS senior leadership to support NIAMS research programs, operations, and strategies. Dr. Castelo-Soccio also acts as a liaison to other NIH institutes and centers and oversees NIAMS’ participation in existing and emerging NIH-wide initiatives. She also serves as the institute's Deputy Ethics Counselor.
Dr. Castelo-Soccio came to NIAMS in 2021 and served as an Associate Research Physician and Staff Clinician on the Dermatology Consult Service in the NIAMS intramural program. She also co-directed the Translational Dermatology Unit within the Cutaneous Microbiome and Inflammation Group. Prior to joining NIAMS, from 2011-2021, Dr. Castelo-Soccio was an assistant professor of pediatrics and dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and also the research director and an attending physician in pediatric dermatology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical and doctoral degrees from the Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. program at Cornell University. After training in dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, she completed a pediatric dermatology fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of George Cotsarelis, M.D., at the University of Pennsylvania.