Leslie Parent

Dr. Leslie Parent is the Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Research and Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Penn State College of Medicine. She holds professorships in the Departments of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases), Comparative Medicine (Interim Chair), and Molecular and Precision Medicine. Her research focuses on retroviral assembly mechanisms, particularly the molecular interactions between retroviral Gag proteins and genomic RNA. She leads NIH-funded projects studying HIV-1 RNA biology and the impact of substance use disorders on viral replication.

Education: MD from Duke University (1987), Residency in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center (1991), Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (1994), and a Research Fellowship in Retrovirology (1997).

Research interests include Rous sarcoma virus nuclear trafficking, HIV RNA packaging, and biomolecular condensates. Her lab uses genetic, biochemical, and imaging approaches to study viral-host interactions.

Notable awards include Fellowships from the AAAS (2017), American Academy of Microbiology (2014), and teaching awards (2014). She co-directs the MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program, mentoring future physician-scientists.

Key research outputs (2020–2025) investigate HIV assembly dynamics, coronavirus replication mechanisms, and the role of ACE inhibitors in kidney disease. She serves on the NIH HIV Molecular Virology study section and editorial boards for Retrovirology and Journal of Virology.