Contact Information

UCLA Department of Radiological Sciences
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
1124 W. Carson Street
RB-1 (Room 218)
Torrance, CA 90502
Tel: (310) 222-1964
Fax: (310) 222-4143
E-mail: ma@humc.edu

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Dr. Ma is a unique scientist with post-graduate degrees both in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and modern biomedical sciences. He received his Western medical training at the Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China, and he subsequently received a Master's Degree in Integrated TCM and Western medicine at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China. Having been schooled in both Western and TCM, Dr. Ma worked as a resident and attending doctor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Xi-Yuan Hospital, affiliated with the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1987, he moved to Iowa City to pursue additional post-graduate training in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1991. From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral Fellow in the Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, and from 1994 to 1996, he was a postdoctoral Associate in the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Iowa. Dr. Ma was recruited to Harbor-UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1996, where he serves as Director of the Division of Perinatal Neuroscience. His educational background and research experience provides a wide range of multidisciplinary skills and experimental techniques for studies in the biomedical sciences. With extensive experience in the studies and practices of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, covering clinical and basic research in China and the United States, he has developed and conducted research projects combining cellular/molecular activities with functions/diseases as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Currently, he has five research projects that have been peer-reviewed and funded from three institutes (NHLBI, NCHI, and NCCAM) of the NIH, and the American Diabetes Association. Two projects funded by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine aim to define neural circuits of NO-GABA on acupuncture signals, and explore the molecular, chemicals, structures, and functions of the meridian systems.

Selected References

Ma SX. Do mechanosensitive stretch-activated ion channels play a role in mediating the response to acupuncture needling? American Journal of Acupuncture. 1998; 26:1-6.

Ma SX, Ignarro LJ, Byrns R, Li XY. Increased nitric oxide concentrations in posterior hypothalamus and central sympathetic function on nitrate tolerance following subcutaneous nitroglycerin. Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry. 1999; 3:153-161.

Ma SX, Cornford ME, Vahabnezhad I, Wei SM, Li XY. Responses of nitric oxide synthase expression in the gracile nucleus to sciatic nerve injury in young and aged rats. Brain Research. 2000; 855:124-131.