Dr. Mario De La Rosa is a professor of social work at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work and director of the Center for Research on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA) at Florida International University (FIU). He is a pioneering scientist with more than three decades of experience and expertise in substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and cross-cultural issues affecting Latino populations.
Dr. De La Rosa serves as principal investigator (PI) of the P20 Center of Excellence at FIU, which is funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and serves as PI with Dr. Andres Gil of the S21 NIMHD endowment award that funds the Florida International University-Health Disparities Initiative.
He has published extensively on Latino cultural and social determinants of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and violence. He has served on numerous NIH scientific review committees and peer-review scientific editorial boards and is a past member of the NIMHD National Advisory Council. He has won two awards for “Outstanding Research Contributions” at FIU and is the recipient of the National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Investigator from the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse for his lifelong research efforts.
Currently, Dr. De La Rosa’s research focuses on the sociocultural factors influencing substance abuse and HIV risk behaviors among adult Latina immigrants and the impact of pre-immigration factors on alcohol use behaviors of recent young adult Latino immigrants. To learn more about Dr. De La Rosa’s career, read this 2018 article published in the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions [Interview Conducted by MARILYN W. LEWIS (2018) Pioneers in Social Work Practice With the Addictions: An Interview With Mario De La Rosa, MSSA, PhD, Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 18:2, 217-221, DOI: 10.1080/1533256X.2018.1448196].