Dr. Castro is Co-Director of the Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Castro is also Professor of Medicine and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr Castro has recently been awarded the Medallion's Group Endowed Chair in Gene Therapeutics at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. She currently serves as a permanent member and consultant at a study section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. Dr Castro previously served as Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Manchester in England. She was a member of the Neuroscience Panel (Study Section) of the Welcome Trust, UK and is an expert member on the Neuroscience Panel for Evaluators of the European Commission. Dr. Castro is the recipient of RO-1 and R0-3 grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop novel gene therapy approaches to treat chronic neurodegenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and brain cancer. Dr Castro's research program focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms which mediate brain tumor regression in response to immune-stimulatory and cytotoxic gene therapeutics. Dr Castro has published over 200 research articles, reviews and book chapters in high impact peer-reviewed journals, e.g. Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Medicine USA, The Journal of Experimental Medicine, The Journal of Virology, The Journal of Neuroscience, and Cancer Research amongst many others. Dr Castro serves on the editorial boards of Gene Therapy, Current Gene Therapy, Journal of Endocrinology, Journal of Molecular Endocrinology and Journal of Neuromolecular Medicine.