Members
Research Interests/Topics Formatted Headshot Link Faculty Member Name Degree Title Career Level Email Twitter Handle Twitter Affiliations School Department IAS Research Groups IAS Title USC Profile NIH Profile Headshot Notes Bio
Opioids; Policy; Tobacco; Psychiatric Comorbidity; Cannabis
Adam Matthew Leventhal
PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Director of IAS
Faculty
adam.leventhal@usc.edu
@AdamMLeventhal
@uscpphs
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
IAS Director
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/adam-matthew-leventhal/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/Xe7yl-X1Kkq5PJ2hK6SNjQ/projects
Adam Leventhal, Ph.D., Professor of Preventive Medicine and Psychology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is an addiction psychologist and public health scientist. Dr. Leventhal is the Founding Director of the USC Health, Emotion, & Addiction Laboratory (USC-HEAL; heal.usc.edu), a group of six faculty investigators and 30 staff and trainees who study the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of addiction and mental illness across the lifespan. Having been awarded more than $40M in grant funding from the NIH and other agencies, USC-HEAL's current areas of focus are: (1) adolescent and young adult use of tobacco, cannabis, and opioids; (2) the co-occurrence of addiction and mental illness; (3) the development of new medications to promote smoking cessation; (4) science to inform public policies for regulating tobacco and other consumer products; and (5) cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention.
Dr. Leventhal is also the Founding Director of the USC Institute for Addiction Science (USC-IAS; ias.usc.edu), a university-wide initiative that supports transdisciplinary science and education for a network of 40+ faculty addiction experts across 5 schools and colleges at USC.
Boys and young men of color, college access and equity, and gang-associated youth
Adrian Huerta
PhD
Assistant Professor of Education
Faculty
ahhuerta@rossier.usc.edu
@AdrianHuertaPhD
@USCRossier
Rossier School of Education
Education
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://pullias.usc.edu/people/adrian-huerta/
Adrian H. Huerta, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of education in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on boys and young men of color, college access and equity, and gang-associated populations. His research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, ECMC Foundation, Institute for Research on Poverty/JPB Foundation, and totals over $1.6 million dollars. His scholarship appears in Community College Review, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Teachers College Record, The Urban Review, Urban Education, and other practitioner and scholarly journals.
Tobacco Regulatory Science; Pediatric Chronic Illness; Addiction; Cancer Prevention; E-Cigarettes; Respiratory Effects of Emerging Tobacco Products
Alayna Tackett
PhD
Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
alaynata@usc.edu
@AlaynaTackett
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/alayna-tackett/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/erwGCmnHzka853Ec6oDY2Q/projects
He was selected as the winner of the prestigious Early Career Award by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in 2022, named a 2022-2024 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, and is a past receipt of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Minority Dissertation Fellowship.
Social epidemiology of drug use, Mexican-Americans, Health Disparities
Alice Cepeda
PhD
Associate Professor of Social Work
Faculty
alicecep@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Adult Mental Health and Wellness
CED
IAS Community Engagement and Dissemination Co-Lead
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/alice-cepeda
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/NxHwf2thWkC5oT61lHwXkg/projects
Alice Cepeda is currently an associate professor in the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She was previously in the Department of Sociology and associate director of the Center for Drug and Social Policy Research at the University of Houston. She received her doctoral degree from the City University of New York, Graduate Center.
Chemokines, Vaccine Immunology, Cytokines, Vaccines
Amanda Burkhardt
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Faculty
aburkhar@usc.edu
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Clinical Pharmacy
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/amanda-burkhardt-phd/
Prior to joining USC Mann faculty, Amanda M. Burkhardt was an adjunct assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the School of Medicine, Department of Physiology & Biophysics; and lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Long Beach. She holds a BS in microbiology from the University of California, San Diego, and a PhD in immunology from the University of California, Irvine. Her research career has focused on the development of novel vaccines and adjuvants, discovery of cytokines and chemokines, and tuning immune responses to vaccine formulations using adjuvants based on Toll-like receptors and nanoparticles. Burkhardt has lectured and mentored doctoral, undergraduate and medical students, developed engaging course curriculum, and authored multiple patents and journal articles based on her findings. She is also co-director of the STAR program, a cooperative venture in science education between the USC Health Sciences Campus and Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in East Los Angeles.
Pediatric infectious diseases, pathogenesis of HIV and HCV contagious women
Andrea Kovacs
MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology/Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Faculty
akovacs@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Pediatrics, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/andrea-az-kovacs/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/XAjLoyly3kqKxrcpJMamYw/projects
Her work has focused on the social epidemiology of drug use and the related health risk behaviors that disproportionately affect urban Mexican-origin minority populations, including violence, HIV/STI infection risks and mental health conditions. Dr. Cepeda’s research has also highlighted the unique gendered experiences encountered by females within this cultural context. Her research publications have explored the complex of social determinants, including familial, neighborhood and socio-ecological factors that contribute to drug use and negative social and health outcomes among vulnerable minority populations.
Neuroscience - the neural processes underlying how we make decisions and choices, gambling, food addiction, social media addiction, substance use disorders
Antoine Bechara
PhD
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Faculty
bechara@usc.edu
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Psychology
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/psyc/psyc_faculty_display.cfm?person_id=1008327
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/2xigl3T4kk-RUGpjdURuVw/projects
Antoine Bechara is an American neuroscientist, academic and researcher. He is currently a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California. Bechara studied at the University of Toronto and earned his Doctoral degree in 1991. He then completed his Fellowship in Behavioral Neurology from the University of Iowa in 1996. Following his Postdoctoral fellowship, Bechara held appointment as an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1997, and was promoted to associate professor of Neurology in 2004. In 2005, he joined the University of Southern California as an associate professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and became Professor in 2008. Bechara is the Editor of Frontiers in Psychology: Psychopathology Section and also served on the editorial board of several scientific journals, including Neuropsychology, Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, and Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Bechara has published over 400 papers, has been cited over 79,000 times, and has a Google Scholar H-index of 113. His work is focused on understanding the neural processes underlying how we make decisions and choices. He has co-edited a book entitled, Obesity Prevention: The Role of Brain and Society on Individual Behavior.
Schizophrenia, Treatment-resistant mood disorders, Application of non-psychopharmacological treatment approaches using Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
Ashraf Elmashat
MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Faculty
ashraf.elmashat@med.usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and The Behavioral Sciences
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/ashraf-elmashat/
Dr. Elmashat is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry. His clinical and research focuses primarily on treatment-resistant mood disorders and the application of non-psychopharmacological treatment approaches using Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). He is double board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) both Adult and Child & Adolescent psychiatry. Prior to joining USC Department of Psychiatry in 2020, he was a faculty member at UC San Diego, Department of Psychiatry since 2002. Dr. Elmashat is involved in training medical students, residents and fellows in psychiatry. He is focused on a variety of research projects, mainly clinical psychopharmacology for schizophrenia and mood disorder. He serves as the primary PI on several clinical trials. His practice delivers compassionate, expert care in treating children, teens and adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. He also cares for individuals with treatment-resistant depression using transcranial magnetic stimulation, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) and Ketamine
Substance Abuse, Social development/policy, HIV/AIDS, Behavioral Health
Avelardo Valdez
PhD
Professor of Practice, Policy, Research and Advocacy for the Latino Population
Faculty
avelardv@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Adult Mental Health and Wellness
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/avelardo-valdez
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/PIFiUIPoQk6SLdiKmaMfOA/projects
Avelardo Valdez is currently the Cleofas and Victor Ramirez Professor of Practice, Policy, Research and Advocacy for the Latino Population at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. He was previously a professor at the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston and director of the Center for Drug & Social Policy Research. He obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
A primary focus of his research has been on the relationship between substance abuse and violence and health issues among high-risk groups. His research projects have been among “hidden populations” such as youth and prison gang members, heroin users, sex workers, aging drug users, and crack users. He is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar with an extensive publication record in his field of research. His most recent book is titled Mexican American Girls and Gang Violence: Beyond Risk.
Primary Care and Health Disparities focusing on improving management and outcomes for chronic pain and chronic hepatitis C infection.
Barbara Turner
MD, PhD
Clinical Professor of Medicine
Faculty
turnerb@usc.edu
@bjturner60
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Medicine (General Internist)
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/author/barbara-turner-md-msed-ma-macp/
Barbara Turner, PhD, is a professor of medicine in the Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. She is a practicing general internist with 35 years of experience in health disparities research and community-partnered research. In 2010, she established the Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH) as a partnership between the University of Texas (UT) Health San Antonio and the UT School of Public Health (UTSPH). ReACH now has 29 Scholars from multiple disciplines and institutions who share the mission of improving health outcomes through community-oriented research focusing on the low-income, Hispanic residents of South Texas. Her research has focused on health disparities through administrative database studies, randomized trials, and implementation & dissemination projects. The subject areas for her health disparities research are diverse including preventive care, chronic disease management, community-engagement, and implementation of evidence-based models of care. Recently, Dr. Turner has been principal investigator (PI) on four federal- and state-funded projects to implement HCV screening and management in diverse primary care practices. She has over 175 peer-reviewed publications and editorials from research funded by the NIH, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She is the lead author on a Handbook for Community Engagement of Underserved Populations completed as part of a PCORI grant which is being published by the Society of Public Health Educators. For eight years, Dr. Turner served as director of a primary care physician-scientist fellowship funded by Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Research Service Award at the University of Pennsylvania. She has mentored over 50 individuals at all levels of training from college to faculty. In regard to leadership positions, She has served as Regent of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and President of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). Dr. Turner completed an MD (1987) and a MSEd (1984) at the University of Pennsylvania, an MA (1973) from Harvard University and a BA (1972) from Wellesley College.
Neuroimaging Technologies, Mechanisms of Therapeutic Response, Autism, Depression, BPD, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, OCD, Schizophrenia, Eating Disorders, Stuttering
Bradley Peterson
MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry
Faculty
bpeterson@chla.usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Pediatrics
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/bradley-peterson/
Bradley S. Peterson, MD, is the inaugural director of the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), as well as Vice Chair for Research and Chief of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine and the University of Southern California. He joined CHLA and USC in July 2014 after 13 years at Columbia University, where he served as the director of the Center for Developmental Neuropsychiatry, the founding director of the MRI Research Program, and the Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Before that, he spent 12 years at Yale University, where he served as Director of Neuroimaging at the Yale Child Study Center.
His research involves the development and use of neuroimaging technologies to identify the brain bases of psychiatric disorders and the mechanisms of therapeutic response across the life span. Specific disease processes that he studies include Autism, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, Tourette syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Schizophrenia, eating disorders, stuttering, premature birth, and the effects of environmental toxins on brain development.
Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease
Brian Lee
MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Faculty
brian.lee@med.usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Medicine (Hepatologist)
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/brian-p-lee/
Dr. Lee is a transplant hepatologist who treats patients before and after liver transplant. His NIAAA-funded research program focuses on improving health for patients with alcohol use and liver disease, through: 1) early transplant in alcohol hepatitis; 2) intersection of alcohol and obesity in the liver; 3) health inequities; 4) public policy and advocacy; 5) novel therapies and translational science. His research has led to first-author studies in Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet Public Health, JAMA Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, among others. His research has featured in New York Times, Washington Post, NBC Nightly News, Today Show, NPR, CNN, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, among others. He has led advocacy initiatives that successfully changed national- and state-wide transplant and insurance policies to improve healthcare access for patients. His research has incorporated into practice guidelines across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He serves as a voting member on the FDA Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee.
Pediatrics, LGBTQIA+, Cannabis
Bridgid Mariko Conn
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Faculty
bconn@usc.edu
@ChildrensLA, @KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Pediatrics
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/bridgid-conn/
Bridgid M. Conn, PhD, ABPP is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She is a diplomate at the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Her research focuses on adolescent and young adult mental health, particularly among marginalized and minoritized communities.
Tobacco; Health Economics; Policy
Cameron Kaplan
PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Faculty
kaplanc@usc.edu
@CameronMKaplan
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science + PPHS
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/author/cameron-kaplan/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/uZXHUYq5nE-m5jybmVR2rA/projects
Cameron Kaplan, PhD, is a health economist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the USC Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science. His work focuses on the impact of health policy and insurance benefit design on healthcare utilization, health outcomes, and disparities. Kaplan received his PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2011. Following his PhD, Dr. Kaplan completed a two-year post-doctoral program in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh. He most recently joined USC from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He is currently the principal investigator of two large research grants: an R01 from NIA examining the impact of the Medicare prescription drug donut hole closure on medication adherence and health outcomes, and a research scholar grant from the American Cancer Society examining the impact of premium surcharges for tobacco uses in the ACA health insurance exchanges on enrollment.
Cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, and their co-use, other substance use, policy impacts, and health outcomes. HIV risk, substance use, mental health among sexual-minority and gender-minority adolescents and young adults. Translation science: how best to utilize research to inform programs and interventions. Health disparities among underserved and vulnerable populations. Tailored intervention development for high-risk adolescents and young adults
Carolyn F. Wong
PhD
Associate Professor of Research Pediatrics
Faculty
cawong@chla.usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Pediatrics
Biopysch
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/carolyn-f-wong/
As a Social Health Psychologist, much of Dr. Wong’s scientific work has been devoted to understanding how developmental risk factors, trauma, and stress (e.g., discrimination, violence and victimization) lead to maladaptive coping behaviors (e.g., substance use, sexual risk-taking) and how that translates to poor mental and physical health outcomes. She is also interested in investigating how psychosocial protective factors (e.g., resilience and social support, access to health programs) from different spheres of life might impact these associations.
Major areas of research includes:
1. Cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, and their co-use, other substance use, policy impacts, and health outcomes
2. HIV risk, substance use, mental health among sexual-minority and gender-minority adolescents and young adults
3. Translation science: how best to utilize research to inform programs and interventions
4. Health disparities among underserved and vulnerable populations
5. Tailored intervention development for high-risk adolescents and young adults
Dr. Wong is currently an Associate Professor of Research in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine at USC.
Cancer Prevention
Caryn Lerman
PhD
Director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Faculty
clerman@usc.edu
@AACI_President
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Cancer
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/caryn-lerman/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/uDQNMtr0OU6xwWLufnEC4Q/projects
Dr. Caryn Lerman is the Director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Associate Dean for Cancer Programs, and the H. Leslie and Elaine S. Hoffman Cancer Research Chair at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is recognized for her cancer prevention research that bridges the fields of neuroscience, genomics, pharmacology, and population science. A major unifying focus of her research is biology-driven science to reduce cancer risk behaviors. This work has spawned novel lines of investigation, including: the behavioral epidemiology of cancer genetic susceptibility testing; pharmacogenomic approaches to tobacco dependence leading to the first prospective stratified pharmacogenomic trial in this area; and neuroscience-based interventions to reduce tobacco dependence.
An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Lerman has served as a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors, the National Human Genome Research Advisory Council, and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse Advisory Council. She is the current Vice President/President-Elect of the Association of American Cancer Institutes and a past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Additional awards and honors include the American Cancer Society Cancer Control Award, the American Society of Preventive Oncology Joseph Cullen Award, the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health, the NIH Matilda White Riley Award, and the Los Angeles Business Journal award for Women Leaders in Healthcare.
Diversity/ Cross Cultural; Tobacco; Opioids
Claradina Soto
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
toya@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/claradina-soto/
Dr. Claradina Soto (Navajo/Jemez Pueblo) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research. She has over 20 years working with American Indian and Alaska Native populations in public health, collaborating with urban and Tribal communities in CA to reduce and prevent mental health disparities, cancer prevalence, commercial tobacco use, and substance use and opioid use disorders. She collaborates on several research projects funded by NIH/FDA, Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), Department of Health Care Services, California Tobacco Control Programs and the Office of Health Equity. She teaches courses in the Master of Public Health and Health Promotion programs at USC and mentors undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Soto is a longtime advocate for the AI/AN communities and other priority populations to advance health equity and reduce health disparities.
Pharmacology, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism
Daryl Davies
PhD
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education & Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Faculty
ddavies@usc.edu
@phdsailor
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Clinical Pharmacy
Biopsych
IAS Associate Director
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/daryl-l-davies-phd/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/iuBZ4n-IyEarAMfiaS1GZA/projects
Daryl Davies is associate dean for undergraduate education and a professor in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at USC Mann. As associate dean, he is responsible for the ongoing development and management of the school’s undergraduate majors and minors. Davies is also the director of the master’s program in management of drug development in the Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences and undergraduate faculty adviser for the Trojan Admission Pre-Pharmacy (TAP) program. He is a mentor in the STAR program—a cooperative venture in science education between the USC Health Sciences Campus and Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in East Los Angeles—after several years serving as the program’s director.
In addition to his educational activities, Davies leads a research team at USC that is working to discover and develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and alcoholism. He is considered a pioneer by his peers in the field of purinergic receptors and their role in central nervous system regulation of alcohol-induced changes in alcohol intake and signaling. He also is one of the lead faculty members in the USC Institute for Addiction Science.
Mind Body medicine, Addiction, Disease Prevention
David Black
PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
davidbla@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/david-black/
Dr. Black an Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is also a member of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Director of Education for the USC Center for Mindfulness Science. His research had been funded by university, private, and federal grants for over 17 years. He as authored and co-authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles in journals including JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, Cancer, Pediatrics, American Journal of Public Health, Behaviour Research and Therapy, and Psychosomatic Medicine. Dr. Black began his early career in the health sciences and earned a Master of Public Health degree and directed his first grant-funded human subjects research study prior to finishing his masters thesis. He trained as a NIH National Cancer Institute predoctoral fellow for five years at the USC Institute for Prevention Research, where he latter earned his Ph.D. The focus of his doctoral training was in substance misuse prevention and addictions research. He had self-studied contemplative theory and practices over the previous decade, and realized an opportunity to merge his passion for the contemplative studies with his training in the health sciences. He continued advanced training as a NIH National Institute on Aging postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. He focused his research effort on conducting a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of mindfulness training on sleep and inflammation in older adults with sleep problems. He went on to articulate a novel conceptual model to illustrate how mindfulness training exerts biological influence from brain to body using a genomic signal transduction framework with downstream biological impact on sympathetic nervous system activity, release of norepinephrine at nerve terminals, activation of b-adrenergic receptors on adjacent cells, and the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway that ultimately regulates gene expression by stimulating transcription factors, particularly those associated with the propagation of inflammation in peripheral blood. He recently completed a NIH NIDA R01 randomized controlled trial testing mindfulness training added to residential treatment for substance use disorder. He is currently co-PI of a clinical trial testing an app-based mindfulness training for smoking cessation that recruits smokers from across the state of California. He enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, was awarded the 2015 USC Mentoring Award for graduate students from the Center for Excellence in Teaching. He enjoys spending time with his family in nature, fly fishing, camping, and reading.
Psychoactive Substances, Substance Use Disorder, Psychiatric Disorders, Pharmacy Practice, Psychopharmacology
David Dadiomov
PharmD, BCPP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Faculty
dadiomov@usc.edu
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Clinical Pharmacy
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/david-dadiomov-pharmd-bcpp/
David Dadiomov, PharmD, BCPP, is a clinical assistant professor of clinical pharmacy in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy.
He received his PharmD from the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. Dadiomov completed his PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Michigan Medicine, and his PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency at University of California, San Diego, Health. He holds board certification in psychiatric pharmacy.
Dadiomov serves as the director of the PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Program. He maintains clinical practice in addiction medicine at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. In this role he provides consultations in psychiatry and addiction as well as seeing patients in the Complex Care Clinic. Dadiomov has worked with the LA County Department of Health Services to establish novel clinical pharmacy services for patients experiencing homelessness, patients currently or recently released from incarceration, as well as those with severe mental illness and addiction disorders.
Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Adolescent Health
Dayoung Bae
PhD
Assistant Professor Of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
dayoung@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/dayoung-bae/
New Member - jan 2023
Dayoung Bae, PhD, assistant professor of clinical, joins the Division of Health Behavior Research in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences. Bae’s primary research focus is on the association between stressful life events and health risk behaviors across adolescence and young adulthood. In terms of stressful life events, Bae is interested in early exposures to adverse family and community environments, and she aims to investigate how these stressful life experiences have long-term effects on changes in substance use behaviors. In conducting research, she also aims to identify and implement proper advanced statistical models using longitudinal cohort survey data.
Drug Utilization, Access to Medicines, and Pharmaceutical Policy (U.S and Globally)
Dima Qato
PharmD, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Faculty
qato@usc.edu
@dimamqato
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Clinical Pharmacy
Policy, PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/author/dima-m-qato-pharmd-mph-phd/
Dima Mazen Qato, PharmD, MPH, PhD serves as the Hygeia Centennial Chair and Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy. She has also been appointed as a Senior Fellow with the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Dr. Qato is currently leading the Program on Medicines and Public Health within the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at USC. At the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, she will develop and lead interdisciplinary research efforts focusing on drug utilization, access to medicines, and pharmaceutical policy both in the U.S. and globally to better understand why medications are used, or not used, and how they can and should be used in the population to promote equity, longevity and good health.
Dr. Qato’s research utilizes population-based methods to better understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for the use, underuse and unsafe use of medications, how these patterns may influence health outcomes and health disparities, and what can be done from a community and policy perspective to address these growing public health problems. Dr. Qato’s goal is to promote public accountability to better ensure access to, and safe use of, medications at the national, state and local levels. In an effort to achieve this goal, Dr. Qato is interested in incorporating the concept of ‘essential medicines’ in payment and regulatory decision-making in ongoing health care reform.
Health Communication and Communication Networks, Relation to sexual health among minority groups, Social network dynamics,
Emily Johnson
MD
Faculty
emilyjo1@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Emergency Medicine
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
Physician at University of Southern California, Associate Medical Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
Alcohol, Brief Interventions, Technology, SBIRT, Adolescents Young Adults
Eric Pedersen
PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
Faculty
Eric.Pedersen@med.usc.edu
@ericRpedersen
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences + PPHS
PPHE
IAS Priority Populations and Health Equity Co-Lead
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/eric-pedersen/
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/bJqcxoqY1UOaYk-JYTYvjA/projects
Dr. Pedersen is an associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Keck School of Medicine at USC and an adjunct behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. His research interests are primarily in the areas of young adult/adolescent alcohol use and co-occurring mental health disorders. Dr. Pedersen has received funding to develop brief, online interventions to reduce alcohol misuse among young adult populations such as college students and recently discharged veterans. He is interested in finding ways to target comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and substance use disorders among young adults, as well as in using internet-based methods to help reduce alcohol misuse and promote treatment engagement among non-treatment-seeking young adults. He is also serving as the director of Project ALERT, which is a school-based drug prevention program for middle school youth developed at RAND. Dr. Pedersen received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Washington in 2012.
Toxicology, Clinical Research, Drug Regulations
Eunjoo Huisung Pacifici
PharmD, PhD
Associate Professor of Regulatory and Quality Sciences
Faculty
epacific@usc.edu
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Regulatory and Quality Sciences
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/eunjoo-pacifici-pharmd-phd/
Eunjoo Pacifici received her doctor of pharmacy and PhD in toxicology from the University of Southern California. She conducted her graduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Sevanian in the Institute for Toxicology at USC, where she studied the mechanism of oxidative damage and repair in endothelial cell membrane.
After receiving her graduate degrees, Pacifici worked at Amgen and gained experience in conducting clinical research with a special focus on Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. She initially worked in the clinical development group managing U.S. investigational sites and central laboratories and then went on to work in the Asia Pacific/Latin America group interfacing with local clinical and regulatory staff in Japan, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Mexico. She represented regional clinical and regulatory views on therapeutic product development teams and led satellite task forces in order to align local efforts with U.S. activities.
Her additional professional experiences include community pharmacy practice in various settings and clinical pharmacy practice at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles.
In her current role, Pacifici is working to provide the next generation of regulatory scientists and pharmacy professionals with knowledge, tools and skills to expedite the development and delivery of innovative, safe and effective biomedical products.
Psychotic Experiences, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Korean American Health
Hans Oh
PhD
Assistant Professor
Faculty
hansoh@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Adult Mental Health and Wellness
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/hans-oh
Hans Oh is a social worker and psychiatric epidemiologist who studies the social determinants and health correlates of psychotic experiences. He earned his PhD from Columbia University School of Social Work, and has received fellowships to enhance his training in adult mental health services. These fellowships include a behavioral health fellowship at Yale School of Medicine, where he worked in an acute crisis unit and supervised a peer support program. He also undertook a psychosocial rehabilitation fellowship at the Veteran Affairs in San Diego, where he provided recovery-oriented services to veterans with psychotic disorders. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in prevention science at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation/UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Biostatistics, Health Information Technology, Health Data Science, Health Informatics, Machine Learning,
Haomiao Jin
PhD
Research Scientist
Faculty
haomiaoj@usc.edu
Viterbi School of Engineering
Industrial and Systems Engineering
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Jin/Haomiao
*requested to be removed 5/20/22 (left USC)
international cooperation and governance approaches to improve health, specifically in regards to global chronic disease control including tobacco use, obesity, and exposure to air pollution, as well as adolescent-focused community-based interventions.
Heather Wipfli
PhD
Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health
Faculty
hwipfli@usc.edu
@hwipfli
@uscpphs
Keck School of Medicine/Dornsife
PPHS/International Relations
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/heather-lynn-wipfli/
Heather Wipfli, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Preventative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science and International Relation at the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Wipfli holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of Geneva. Her research focuses on international cooperation and governance approaches to improve health, specifically in regards to global chronic disease control including tobacco use, obesity, and exposure to air pollution, as well as adolescent-focused community-based interventions. She has conducted research in dozens of countries throughout the world and currently focuses much of her efforts in East Africa, namely Uganda. She is also a member of the California Thirdhand Smoke Research Consortium, in which she serves as the co-Director of the Thirdhand Smoke Research Center
Health Disparities; Adolescents, Young Adults; Marijuana; Tobacco
Jane Steinberg
PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Director of Public Health Practice
Faculty
janestei@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jane-steinberg/
Jane K. Steinberg, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Her research focuses on determinants of multiple risk behaviors (alcohol/drug use, HIV/STDs) among youth and young adults, and development of educational interventions to reduce health risks. She is also interested in the public health impacts of local and state tobacco and cannabis policies on product use, particularly among low-income, ethnically diverse youth. She is a co-investigator on a study to examine the association between proximity to cannabis retailers and cannabis use among adolescents. She is also a co-investigator on a study to evaluate the adoption, implementation and impact of tobacco policy and system change campaigns in California. Currently, she and her colleagues are conducting a study to rapidly develop and evaluate a community-based COVID-19 educational intervention to mitigate risks of disease acquisition and transmission among high-risk Latino residents in LA County. Dr. Steinberg is the Director of Public Health Practice for the MPH Program in Population and Public Health Sciences. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis, and her MPH and PhD in Community Health Sciences from the University California, Los Angeles.
Physician Behavior and Psychology, Behavioral Economics and Health, Patient Choice and Decision Making, Health Policy and Implementation, Treatment Preferences, Prescriptions, Health Informatics
Jason Doctor
PhD
Associate Professor & Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management
Faculty
jdoctor@healthpolicy.usc.edu
@jasndoc
Price School of Public Policy
Health Policy and Management
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://priceschool.usc.edu/people/jason-doctor/
Jason Doctor is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. He is also the Director of Health Informatics at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
His research program centers on decision-making in healthcare and health informatics. Dr. Doctor specializes in behavioral economics and the use of choice architecture to affect policy in health and medicine. In other research, he has studied computational approaches to detecting medical errors and has established methods for representing preferences and values for health.
Health Disparities; Diversity/ Cross Cultural; Adolescents, Young Adults; Tobacco; Behavioral Health; Substance Misuse
Jennifer B Unger
PhD
Professor of PPHS
Faculty
unger@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jennifer-b-unger/
Jennifer B. Unger, Ph.D. is a Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the psychological, social, and cultural influences on health-risk and health-protective behaviors among diverse populations. She currently serves as an Associate Director of the USC Coronavirus Pandemic Research Center (CPRC) and co-leads studies of rapid antigen testing in schools and vaccine hesitancy among college students. She and her colleagues have conducted longitudinal studies of acculturation, cultural stress, and substance use among Hispanic adolescents, highlighting the role of discrimination in health-risk behaviors. Her research also has examined cultural influences on tobacco use among American Indian adolescents, Chinese adolescents, and African American adults and neighborhood influences on adolescent cannabis use. She has collaborated on the design and evaluation of fotonovelas and telenovelas about secondhand smoke exposure in multiunit housing; diabetes; asthma; immunization; and kidney transplantation. She is a Project Leader in the USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS), where she studies diffusion of messages about emerging tobacco products to vulnerable populations through social media and leads the Population Core, which conducts annual surveys of three longitudinal cohorts of adolescents and young adults. She is a Program Leader of the Cancer Control program at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the Ph.D. program in Population and Public Health Sciences / Health Behavior Research. She teaches predoctoral courses in research methods and grantwriting.
Children and Families, Mental Health
Jennifer Lewis
PhD
Clinical Associate Professor
Faculty
lewi573@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Adult Mental Health and Wellness
TC
IAS Training Consortium Co-Lead
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/jennifer-lewis
Jennifer Lewis, a 2022 Fulbright Specialist, is an experienced mental health clinician with a passion towards transdisciplinary care. She is adept at conducting and teaching neurobiologically-informed interventions related to improving well-being. With a specialization in mental health and addiction, Professor Lewis serves as a curriculum co- chair for the USC Institute for Addiction Science, a joint program with the Keck School of Medicine at USC, the USC School of Pharmacy and the school of social work.
For the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Professor Lewis promotes integrated social work curriculum and has been a leader in the vertical and horizontal mapping of the school's curriculum as vice chair of Curriculum Council, chair of the Adult Mental Health and Wellness Department Curriculum Committee, University Task Force on Interdisciplinary Communities and a Center for Excellence in Teaching Fellow. Before entering academia, Professor Lewis was the chief of social work at the University of California, San Diego, Health System Department of Pediatrics Infectious Disease where she authored and implemented a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant for HIV-positive mothers abusing substances to prevent the abuse, neglect and abandonment of children.
Opioids; Policy; Tobacco
Jessica L. Barrington-Trimis
PhD
Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
jtrimis@usc.edu
@Doctor_BT
@uscpphs
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
TC
IAS Training Consortium Co-Lead
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jessica-l-barrington-trimis/
Dr. Barrington-Trimis is an epidemiologist and Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California, and faculty member in the USC Health, Emotion, and Addiction Laboratory, the USC Institute for Addiction Science, the USC Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. After receiving her BA in Philosophy and English (creative writing) from Bucknell University (2007), Dr. Barrington-Trimis joined Teach for America, earning an MA in Education (2009), while teaching high school chemistry in Los Angeles. Dr. Barrington-Trimis left her teaching position to earn an MS in Global Medicine (2010), and her PhD in Epidemiology (2014). From 2014-2016, Dr. Barrington-Trimis completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the FDA and NIH-supported USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS), and in January 2017 accepted a faculty position at USC. Dr. Barrington-Trimis' research focuses on investigation of the rapidly changing tobacco, alternative tobacco, and cannabis landscape. Her work aims to identify intra-individual psychological, behavioral, and social processes associated with nicotine and cannabis product use in adolescence and early adulthood, and to elucidate the behavioral consequences (e.g., transition to more harmful patterns of substance use) and physiological consequences (e.g., adverse respiratory health effects of e-cigarette use) of varying patterns of cannabis and nicotine product use in adolescence.
Health Disparities; Immigrant Health; Tobacco
Jimi Huh
PhD
Associate Professor of Research, Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
jimihuh@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jimi-huh/
Dr.Jimi Huh has joined the University of Southern California in 2011. She has a background in psychology and epidemiology, with specific interests in the topics of health disparities, acculturation and immigrant health. Since joining IPR, she has expanded her research to include developmental aspects of various health behaviors and has acquired various analytic skills, with special emphasis on multilevel modeling, mixture growth curve modeling, piecewise growth curve model, latent class analysis and latent transition analysis. Her past project, funded by Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) examines cultural influences on tobacco use and environmental exposure to smoking among Korean American emerging adults (KAEA), using mixed methods. Her recent work also includes applying innovative statistical models pertinent to Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data such as mixed-effects location scale model and time-varying effect models. Her current project assesses ecological contexts of smoking among KAEA using mobile device. She plans to develop a culturally-tailored ecological momentary intervention to curb smoking among KAEA.
GABA research and drug development; DHM and alcohol/sleep/anxiety
Jing Liang
Phd
Professor
Faculty
jliang1@usc.edu
School of Pharmacy
CXPT
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/jing-liang-md-phd/
Jing Liang has more than 25 years of experience in drug development from exploring compounds, preclinical trials to clinical trials. This work includes Ginseng Saponin (preclinical and clinical trials); OPC21268, an anti-hypertensive drug developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Japan; Fasudil Hydrochloride (INN), a medication of subarachnoid hemorrhage (preclinical trials including safety/toxicity and clinical trials); dihydromyricitin (DHM), as a medication for alcohol use disorders; and DHM, as a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease/dementia.
Liang led her team in identifying a flavonoid compound dihydromyricetin (DHM), purified from herbal medication—Hovenia—as a candidate for medication for Alzheimer’s disease. Her team found that DHM has a high efficacy on Alzheimer’s disease compared with Food and Drug Administration–approved medications such as Memantine. DHM can restore functional GABAergic synapses as well as improve recognition and memory/learning abilities. Based on a World Health Organization 2016 report, the worldwide prevalence of Alzheimer’s was estimated to be 26.6 million in 2006, and an estimated 107 million individuals worldwide are expected to have the condition by 2050. Therefore, this development provides hope for people who are suffering from cognition/memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. Liang’s team also identified the Gephyrin-GABAAR pathway as a new mechanism/molecular target for treatment of central nervous system disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
Behavioral Genetics, Neuropsychology
Joey Trampush
PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences
Faculty
Joey.Trampush@med.usc.edu
@brainworkup
Keck School of Medicine
Clinical Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/joey-trampush/
Dr. Trampush is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. He is a developmental neuropsychologist and geneticist. His research program examines psychopathology across the lifespan, with a particular focus in three core areas: 1) molecular genetics of neurocognitive function in health and disease; 2) neurocognitive function in psychiatric illness; and 3) neurocognitive development and individual trajectories. This work aims to enhance our understanding of the biological and genetic basis of severe psychiatric illnesses that emerge early in life, are chronic across the lifespan, and among the leading causes of disability worldwide.
Substance Abuse, Alcohol Addiction, Social Science Methodology, Public Health, Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology
John Clapp
PhD
Professor of Social Work and Preventative Medicine
Faculty
johnclap@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Behavioral Health, PPHS
PPHE
IAS Associate Director
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/john-d-clapp
John D. Clapp is a professor at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California. Professor Clapp is known internationally for his research and translational work in the field of alcohol problem prevention. A fellow in the American Academy of Health Behavior, he is currently studying the system dynamics of drinking events with a team of engineers and computer scientists with the goal of developing “smart” real-time prevention applications.
He has published more than 100 journal articles, with his work appearing in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Addiction, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, among numerous other top research journals. Professor Clapp has been awarded more than $32 million in grants and contracts (NIAAA, NIDA, U.S. Department of Education, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation) and has been principal investigator on over 20 funded projects. Clapp was the founding co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. As a leader in the prevention of alcohol-related problems experienced by college students, he served six years as the director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery. He also served on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention National Advisory Council.
Behavioral Economics, Neuroimaging
John Robert Monterosso
PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Faculty
johnrmon@usc.edu
@JohnMonterosso
@KECKSchool_USC
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Psychology
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1022683
John Monterosso studies mechanisms underlying human self-control success and failure from the combined perspectives of behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience. He has co-authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. His research is primarily applied to the problem of addiction and obesity, and it is currently supported by the National Institute of Health.
Tobacco; Adolescents, Young Adults; Substance Misuse
Jon-Patrick Allem
PhD
Assistant Professor of Research Population and Public Health Sciences
Faculty
allem@usc.edu
@JonPatrickAllem
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jon-patrick-allem/
Jon-Patrick Allem is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Allem’s research harnesses digital data sources and cutting-edge methodologies to improve population health surveillance and policy. His multidisciplinary expertise in behavioral science, preventive medicine, and data science has led to data-driven public health insights featured in prominent media and scholarly outlets such as Nature, Scientific American, CNN, and the American Journal of Public Health. With the use of data from online platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google Web Search, Dr. Allem`s research has included studies on the effectiveness of mass media campaigns, use and appeal of tobacco products, HIV education, the marketing practices of micromobility companies, and the sources and content of online misinformation. He has successfully competed for close to 4 million dollars in government contracts and grants, with current projects focused on identifying sources of exposure to tobacco marketing among adolescents and young adults. He recently became the principal investigator for the California Tobacco Control Program`s Tobacco Industry Monitoring Evaluation. The main goal of the project is to inform comprehensive tobacco control policy efforts by monitoring core tobacco industry practices related to electronic cigarettes and other new and emerging non-combustible nicotine products, and little cigars and cigarillos in three core tobacco industry practices: advertising and marketing on social media platforms, direct marketing, and underage online sales.
Substance Abuse, Children and Families
Jordan P Davis
PhD
Associate Professor
Faculty
jordanpd@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Children, Youth, and Families
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/jordan-davis
Jordan P. Davis is an assistant professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work in the department of Children, Youth and Families and the Associate Director of the USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society. He has devoted much of his career to interdisciplinary research that addresses substance use and developmental needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations who have experienced some form of trauma (childhood trauma, PTSD, exposure to violence). Davis also focuses on the utility and development of longitudinal data analyses in the structural equation modeling framework.
Davis has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, the Fahs Beck Fund for Experimentation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has been named a Fahs-Beck Scholar, a Society for Social Work Research Doctoral Fellow, and has received numerous awards for his doctoral work on marginalized young adults.
Davis’ primary research focuses on substance use disorder treatment among marginalized youth. Specifically, youth who have been involved in the juvenile (or criminal) justice system, low socioeconomic and education status, and have experienced early childhood trauma or exposure to violence. Davis’ intervention work focuses primarily on Mindfulness Based Interventions and how it can be utilized to address issues facing at risk youth. Davis has conducted the first randomized controlled trial assessing Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention and the effect on stress, craving and substance use among at risk young adults in residential treatment. Davis’ research spans to understanding both psychological and physiological stress responses and self-regulation and how changes in these systems can alter treatment and developmental outcomes.
Davis also investigates development from adolescence to young adulthood and how early life trauma experiences and concurrent exposure to violence influence development. In particular Davis focuses on the associations between personality development, self-regulation, stress response, and exposure to violence.
SES/Economic status (empmloyment, Education Income), ACEs and cormorbidity on mental health, impact on Substance use
Jungeun Olivia Lee
PhD
Assistant Professor
Faculty
lee363@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Children, Youth, and Families
PPHE
IAS Priority Populations and Health Equity Co-Lead
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/academics/faculty-directory/jungeun-olivia-lee
Jungeun Olivia Lee joined the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work in 2014. Prior to her appointment at USC, she was a research scientist at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work and Social Development Research Group after receiving her doctoral degree in 2009.
Her program of research centers on the interconnections among substance use, mental health, socioeconomic adversities, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) across the life course and how social and contextual risks fuel or disrupt the interplay. ACEs are highly correlated with socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood and predictive of SES, substance use, and mental health in adulthood. Her work intentionally straddles and integrates three distinct bodies of literature—behavioral health, socioeconomic adversities, and ACEs—generating four distinct but interconnected topic areas: (a) socioeconomic inequalities in substance use and mental health across the life course; (b) socioeconomic adversities and resilience across the life course and generations; (c) life course etiology of substance use; and (d) the effects of ACEs, a strong correlate of SES, across the life course and generations. She is pursuing these topic areas using a range of longitudinal datasets. She has contributed to multiple grants as either a principal investigator or co-investigator with support from multiple agencies, such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She serves on the national editorial boards of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and BMC Public Health. She is an academic advisory board member for the Pacific Southwest region of the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network. She also sits on the steering committee of the USC Institute for Addiction Science and serves as a co-leader of the Priority Populations and Health Equity Group at the institute. She is a member of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Society for Prevention Research.
Health Disparities; Diversity/ Cross Cultural; Marijuana; Tobacco; Adolescents, Young Adults
Junhan Cho
PhD
Assistant Professor of Research, Population and Public Health Sciences
junhanch@usc.edu
@uscpphs
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/junhan-cho/
Dr. Junhan Cho is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He is the Director of Methodology and Statistics for the USC-Health, Emotion, & Addiction Laboratory (USC-HEAL), which conducts interdisciplinary research on mental health problems and health-related behaviors. With a strong interest to develop advanced research methodologies, Dr. Cho's research aims to address how diverse social contexts and psychological vulnerabilities intersect to increase risk of addictive behaviors. Based on his research background on Human Development and Family Science throughout master and doctoral programs, his studies incorporate both theoretical and methodological frameworks necessary to conducting longitudinal and prevention studies on youth health risk behaviors with a focus on the psychosocial processes influenced by family and community contexts. His current studies include: 1) developmental patterns of conjoint multiple health risk behaviors; 2) longitudinal risk and protective pathways linking early contextual stressors to mental health problems in adolescence; and 3) interaction of social contexts and biological factors influencing psychological vulnerability to addictive behaviors including substance use across adolescence and young adulthood.
Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Kathryn Smith
RN, MN, DrPH
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry & The Behavioral Sciences
kathryn.smith@med.usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and The Behavioral Sciences
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/kathryn-smith/
Dr. Smith has over 30 years of experience caring for children with special health care needs. She serves as Associate Director for Administration at the University of Southern California (USC) University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)
Behavioral Genetics; Development of Conduct Problems in Youth.
Laura A Baker
PhD
Professor of Psychology
lbaker@usc.edu
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Psychology
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/psyc/psyc_faculty_display.cfm?person_id=1003067
Professor Baker studies how heredity and the environment affect individual differences in human behavior, including cognitive abilities, personality, and psychopathology. Baker is particularly interested in the roots of aggression and antisocial behavior and their underlying social and biological risk factors. She is Director of the USC Twin Project, which investigates the genetic bases of reading disabilities, attention deficit disorders, and conduct behavior problems in childhood and adolescence. She is currently elected President of the Behavior Genetic Association (2006-2007).
Health Psychology; Minority Mental Health; Cultural Competency; Neuropsychology; Social Justice; Policy
Lina D'Orazio
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry & The Behavioral Sciences
Lina.DOrazio@med.usc.edu
@DrLinaDOrazio
Keck School of Medicine
Neurology, Neuropsychology
Policy, PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/lina-m-dorazio/
Dr. Lina D'Orazio is a neuropsychologist and clinical psychologist, who, as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Keck School of Medicine of the USC, is the Founding Director of the USC Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology Program which provides research and clinical services designed to understand and assess how cultural contexts shape behavioral and cognitive outcomes across the diversity spectrum. After graduating from Brown University and working in behavioral medicine research in Columbia University Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry, Dr. D'Orazio earned her master's and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from USC. A multi-year American Psychological Association Minority Fellow, Dr. D'Orazio specializes in minority health psychology, cultural neuropsychology, and in working with Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities. Dr. D'Orazio also works as a clinical consultant for research across the medical school and in various national consortia, and currently serves as a member of HEAL's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee while providing social justice and anti-racism training.
Health Organizations and Networks
Lindsay Erin Young
PhD
Assistant Professor of Communication
lindsay.young@usc.edu
Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Communication
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/lindsay-young
Lindsay Young is an assistant professor of health communication and communication networks at USC Annenberg. Her research employs social-network and critical perspectives to identify, characterize, and interrogate the social contexts that contribute to and/or facilitate health disparities, access to critical health resources, and health behavior change in marginalized, resource-restricted communities. She has a particular interest in the contextual factors that affect HIV-prevention engagement among young sexual-minority men of color. To these ends, she applies a rich computational toolkit that includes stochastic network modeling, semantic network mapping, computational text analysis and predictive modeling.
Young’s work is also driven by a praxis orientation, governed by a desire to help affected communities leverage the power of their organic networks toward improved community health. To these ends, she draws on community-oriented, asset-based models of community development and social network theories of health behavior change to design community health interventions that privilege intrinsic structures and assets.
Currently, her work is supported by an NIH Career Development Pathway to Independence Award, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Her work has been published in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals across multiple research domains such as Social Science and Medicine, AIDS and Behavior, Clinical Trials, Preventive Medicine Reports, Social Networks, and Network Science.
Opioids; Adolescents, Young Adults; Policy
Lorraine Kelley-Quon
MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery
lkquon@chla.usc.edu
@LKelly_Quon
@ChildrensLA
Keck School of Medicine
Pediatrics
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/lorraine-kelley-quon/
Dr. Lorraine Kelley-Quon is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Population and Public Health Sciences at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the University of Southern California. She obtained her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the University of California, San Diego and completed her M.D. and General Surgery training at the University of California, Los Angeles followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. During residency, she completed the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and obtained a Master's in Health Services Research from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Dr. Kelley-Quon's research interests include identifying and eliminating health care disparities for children, optimizing pediatric surgical health care delivery and translating health services research into health policy. In partnership with HEAL, she is developing a pilot project to explore postoperative opioid use in adolescents and identify predictors of use, abuse, diversion, and conversion to chronic use. Her goal is to create physician decision support tools to optimize opioid prescribing for children and to inform policy makers of prudent initiatives regarding pediatric opioid legislation.
Diversity/ Cross Cultural; Adolescents, Young Adults; Tobacco; Policy; Cancer
Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati
PhD, MPH
Professor of PPHS, Associate Dean for Community Inititiative
baezcond@usc.edu
@BaezcondG
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/lourdes-baez-conde/
Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Ph.D., holds five academic degrees from Latin America, the United States and Europe and speaks multiple languages. Her degrees include a PhD and an MPH in Community Health Sciences and Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an MA in Medical Psychology from the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, a BA in Clinical, and another BA in Industrial Psychology from the Universidad Nacional Pedro H. Urena in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She has also studied at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and at Cambridge University in England. Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati is a tenured faculty member in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. She is a member of the directorate of the Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research at USC, focusing on community outreach, community education and community-based research. She is the Co-Director of the Global Health Tract in the Masters of Public Health Program. Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati is a Member of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she serves as faculty liaison and Project Leader of the Patient Education and Community Outreach Center. At USC she also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and a courtesy appointment at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She is also the Director and PI of the Keck School of Medicine of USC Center for Health Equity in the Americas, a virtual center that engages faculty and students in the Americas on research and training for the correction of health disparities. Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati conducts research, teaches, and provides technical assistance and training on cancer control with a focus on Latinos and other diverse and vulnerable populations. This includes Latino Americans in the US (Latino diaspora), Latinos and indigenous populations in the Americas (North America, Central America, South America and the Latino Caribbean). She also conducts research among African Americans, American Indians and Korean American populations. Her community based and community participatory research engages communities from inception of research conceptualization through the dissemination phases, and provides the science base for sound policy decision making. Most of her career has been devoted to tobacco prevention and control research, cervical cancer screening and promotion of the HPV vaccine, and obesity prevention at the community level. Other areas of interest include gender and ethnic minority health, and global health. Her health communication work emphasizes finding optimal mechanisms and strategies for communicating effective health messages; and developing and testing interventions to correct health disparities, including the use of narrative and entertainment education. One of the goals of her research method is to more quickly translate scientific findings into community initiatives and public health policy. Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati has received multiple awards and recognitions for her transdisciplinary research. She has been a member of five NIH funded Centers: the USC Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC), The Transdisciplinary Research Center on Energetics and Cancer (TREC), the Prevention Center (Substance Abuse Prevention), the USC Tobacco Center for Regulatory Sciences in Vulnerable Populations, and The Center of Excellence for Minority Youth. In addition, she has a strong tract record as PI or Co-Investigator in several NIH funded projects from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. She received a Most Distinguished Career Award from the American Public Health Association Latino Caucus, the UCI Chancellor?s Award in Clinical and Translational Science, and the University of California Irvine (UCI) Chancellor?s Commendation for Outstanding Community Based-Participatory Research. Along with colleagues in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Population and Public Health Sciences and Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati won the Best Scientific Research Paper award at the Fifth International Conference on Design and Technology for her research on the design of a culturally intelligent technology-based medical interpretation devise, funded by the National Science Foundation. Along with colleagues at USC, Portland State University and Sand Diego State University, Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati is the winner of the Top Scientific Translational Research Award, awarded at George Mason University, at the International Health Communication Conference for her most recent transdisciplinary project with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Population and Public Health Sciences (Transforming Cancer Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs through Narrative). This same research project won an American Public Health Association award from the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section, Best Multimedia Material. This project Is also the winner of the NIH Commemorative 10-Year Common Fund Award for best video. Her short film, Tamale Lesson, was also one of the finalist at the Reel International Short Film Festival, in Melbourne, Australia. She has been recognized as a Public Health Hero by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and Research America, and by the Midwest Regional Latino Health and Human Services Conference, and the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco. She is an appointee of the Governor of California to the Tobacco, Education and Research Oversight Committee, a Board Member of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and of Nuestras Voces, a national Latino network on tobacco control, funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati has traveled widely; and is well published in prestigious and high impact journals in her field, including the American Journal for Public Health, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, among other. She is also an outstanding and innovative educator, with a focus on service learning and transforming the classroom in creative ways to better equip students to deal with real world public health issues and public health emergencies, locally, nationally and globally.
Health, Science Technology and Innovation
Lynn Carol Miller
PhD
Professor of Communication
lmiller@usc.edu
@read_miller
Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Communication
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/lynn-carol-miller
Lynn C. Miller (PhD, personality psychology, UT, Austin) is a research-pioneer in developing and using a variety of technologies and techniques (e.g., virtual environments; intelligent agents, computational modeling of human construction of meaning and goal-based processes for agents in games; systematic representative design; neuroscience) to assess and change the dynamics of social cognitive and interpersonal processes, including mitigating shame, impacting health (e.g., mental health; HIV/AIDS risks) and other pro-social outcomes.
Funded (over $20M) by numerous institutes at the National Institutes of Health (i.e., NIMH; NIGMS; NIDA; NIAID), the CDC, and a wide array of agencies in the Department of Defense/DARPA; she has published over 28 edited book chapters and 80 refereed journal articles in outlets in psychology (e.g., “Psychological Inquiry,” “Psychological Review,” “Psychological Bulletin,” “Psychological Science,” “Journal of Personality and Socialy Psychology”), interdisciplinary and neuroscience (e.g., “Behavioral and brain sciences,” “Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience,” “Annals of Behavioral Medicine,” “Human Brain Mapping,” “NeuroImage Clinical”), health and medicine (American Journal of Public Health, AIDS and Behavior, JIAS, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Health Psychology), and communication (e.g., Health Communication, Human Communication Research, Computers in Human Behavior, International Journal of Communication, and others).
Addiction, Tobacco, Adolscents Youth
Maryann Pentz
PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
pentz@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/maryann-pentz/
Mary Ann Pentz, Ph.D. is Co-Director of the Center for Health Equity in the Americas and Director of the Institute and Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences. For over 20 years, her research and program development have focused on community and policy approaches to preventing tobacco, alcohol, drug use, and violence in youth. Her findings contributed to the formulation of a U.S. Senate bill and use of evidence-based criteria for appropriating funds for prevention under the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act. Her recent translational research includes evaluating dissemination of evidence-based prevention programs and policies, translation of evidence-based substance abuse prevention to obesity prevention, and smart growth communities as a built environment intervention to promote health.
Two of her programs, Project STAR (a school and community-based program for drug abuse prevention) and TOPP (a tobacco and drug policy program for schools), have received awards from Congress and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and are on the National Registry of Effective Programs. Project STAR is the longest-running drug prevention trial in the U.S., having followed youth from early adolescence into mid-adulthood and their own school-age children. A recent program, Media Buzz (the first media literacy program designed specifically for drug abuse prevention), is expected to be considered for the National Registry next year. A new prevention trial, STEP, involves 24 cities in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Missouri. Findings are showing successful adoption and diffusion of evidence-based drug prevention in these cities.
In addition, Dr. Pentz has chaired the NIDA Epidemiology and Prevention study section, been a member of Attorney General Reno’s Task Force on Methamphetamine and the NIH Peer Review Oversight Group.
Addiction, Tobacco, Adolescents Young Adults, Health Behavior
Matthew Kirkpatrick
PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
mgkirkpa@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/matthew-kirkpatrick/
Dr. Kirkpatrick's research uses laboratory psychopharmacology, Ecological Momentary Assessment, and survey methods to focus on how drug use - both normal and problematic - functions in social contexts. His work examines the acute and residual effects of a range of psychoactive drugs (including alcohol, nicotine, and amphetamines) in ethnically diverse populations of both current drug abusers and healthy normal volunteers, and under various laboratory and naturalistic conditions. His current interests focus on: (1) the complex bi-directional interactions between acute drug effects and social settings, and how these interactions contribute to the rewarding effects of drugs; and (2) how friends and family can either help or hinder quit attempts (especially cigarette smoking quit attempts). Overall, this multidisciplinary approach carries direct clinical relevance as it will improve our understanding of drug use, which will help to develop novel treatments for those who wish to quit.
Health Disparities; Policy; Social Determinants of Health; Vulnerable Populations
Michael Cousineau
DrPH
Professor Emeritus of Clinical PPHS
cousinea@usc.edu
@cousinea
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/michael-cousineau/
Michael R. Cousineau, Dr.PH. is Professor in the Departments of Population and Public Health Sciences and Family at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and the USC Price School Public Policy. He attended UC Berkeley and received his doctorate from the UCLA School of Public Health. Dr. Cousineau studies health policy, the determinants of health care utilization for the low-income populations, models of health insurance coverage, health care disparities, effectiveness of outreach and enrollment systems for public insurance programs, the operation of safety-net providers including community health centers and public hospitals, and health needs of vulnerable populations including the homeless and immigrants. He also works on globally including projects on primary care in Panama and universal coverage with the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Dr. Cousineau is an expert on the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, having given over 30 talks on the new law to community and professional groups. Dr. Cousineau has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, the U.S. Health Services and Services Administration, The California Endowment, the Office of Minority Health, Blue Shield Foundation, the California Healthcare Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He teaches health policy in the Masters in Public Health Program at USC and in the Keck School Medicine’s Professionalism and The Practice of Medicine course. He has published in Health Affairs, Medical Care, Public Health Reports, the American Journal of Public Health, Academic Medicine, and Health Services Research.
Chronic Disease; HIV; Diabetes; Policy; Social Determinants of Health
Michael Menchine
MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
menchine@usc.edu
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/michael-menchine/
Michael Menchine, MD, MPH, is an associate professor of clinical emergency medicine and vice chair of clinical research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He works clinically in the emergency department at LAC+USC Medical Center.
His research focuses on integrating solutions for chronic disease into acute care settings, with an emphasis on underserved, low-income patients with limited access to comprehensive medical care. He has led several studies examining strategies to improve the identification and care of patients with HIV and/or diabetes. He has received funding to support his studies from the California Policy Research Center, California HIV/AIDS Research Program, McKesson Foundation, California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians and Gilead Sciences.
Following medical school, Menchine completed residencies in internal and emergency medicine at UCLA. Stimulated by his clinical observations of the social and policy determinants of disease, he pursued a Health Services Research Fellowship through the UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, and was awarded an F32 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research. He also completed a master of public health.
Research Neurology
Michael Jakowec
PhD
Associate Professor of Research Neurology
mjakowec@surgery.usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Neurology
The primary focus of research in Dr. Jakowec's laboratory is to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in neuroplasticity in the injured brain with the emphasis on the basal ganglia, a region of the brain responsible for motor behavior. Currently, his laboratory is exploring the interactions between the neurotransmitter systems involving dopamine, glutamate and serotonine and finding ways to manipulate them to enhance motor behavior. To achieve this goal, animal models of basal gagnglia injury using the neurotoxicant MPTP are being used to investigate intrinsic neuroplasticity as well as using both pharmacological and behavioral modification including intensive treadmill exercise to alter the course of response to injury. Techniques and approaches used in the lab to examine alterations in genes and proteins of interest include immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization histochemistry, western immunoblotting, light microscopy, gene array, protein profiling, neurochemistry, electrophysiology (with John Walsh), PET imaging (with Giselle Petzinger), blood flow studies (with Daniel Holschneider), immune analysis (with Brett Lund), and behavior (with Ruth Wood). A major goal of these studies is to translate their findings to develop new therapeutic treatments for Parkinson's disease and to possibly alter disease progression and demonstrated in our recent publication (Fisher et al, 2008)
Health Disparities; Adolescents, Young Adults; Social Determinants of Health; Vulnerable Populations
Michele Kipke
PhD
Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical Scholar)
mkipke@chla.usc.edu
@kipkeforkids
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/michele-diane-kipke/
Dr. Michele Kipke is a Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Strategic Health Alliances in the Office of the Senior Vice President of Health Affairs at the University of Southern California (USC). In addition, she co-directs USC’s Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. A nationally known public health researcher and policy expert, Dr. Kipke has been intimately involved in the HIV/AIDS epidemic since its onset in the U.S. in the mid-1980’s and has made significant scientific contributions to the field of HIV prevention since that time. Early in her career, she studied risk for HIV exposure among injection drug users, developed and conducted the first formal evaluation of an HIV prevention intervention for adolescents in Harlem, and evaluated one of the first needle exchange programs. During the past three decades, Dr. Kipke has conducted NIH-funded behavioral epidemiologic research with at-risk youth populations, as well as health services and health outcomes research to characterize inequities in health in diverse pediatric populations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kipke has led a USC-wide effort, called VaccinateLA, which includes a digital and multi-media campaign, and community navigation services delivered to residents in low vaccination communities in Los Angeles County, as well as in 34 states throughout the United States. Through this effort, over 400,000 individuals have been vaccinated to date. Targeted public health interventions are also being developed to increase pediatric vaccinations. To date, Dr. Kipke has authored over 100 publications and lectured nationally and internationally.
Dr. Kipke currently serves as the Chair for NIH’s HIV/AIDS Intra- and Inter-personal Determinants and Behavioral Interventions Scientific Review Committee. She was elected to the Pediatric Society for Research and the American Pediatric Society, she has served in numerous national leadership roles and professional and advisory boards, and she has received countless awards, including USC’s highly esteemed Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship. In 2021 she was recognized by Los Angeles Business Journal as a Women of Influence in Healthcare.
Nonverbal Behavior, Human-Machine Interaction, Physiological Signal Analysis
Mohammad Soleymani
PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science
soleymani@ict.usc.edu
@msoleymani
@USCViterbi
Viterbi School of Engineering
Computer Science
Policy, PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://ict.usc.edu/about-us/leadership/research-leadership/mohammad-soleymani/
Mohammad Soleymani is a research assistant professor with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Geneva in 2011. From 2012 to 2014, he was a Marie Curie fellow at Imperial College London. Prior to joining ICT, he was a research scientist at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva. His main line of research involves developing automatic emotion recognition and behavior understanding methods using physiological signals and facial expressions. He is also interested in understanding subjective attributes in multimedia content, e.g., predicting whether an image is interesting from its pixels or automatic recognition of music mood from acoustic content. He is a recipient of the Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant and the EU Marie Curie fellowship. He has served on multiple conference organization committees and editorial roles, most notably as associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing and technical program chair for ACM ICMI 2018 and ACII 2017. He is one of the founding organizers of the MediaEval multimedia retrieval benchmarking campaign and the president elect for the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing (AAAC).
Alcoholism, Treatment, Liver Disease and Other Medical Comorbidities
Nora Terrault
MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of GI and Liver
terrault@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
GI and Liver
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/norah-terrault/
Mohammad Soleymani is a research assistant professor with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Geneva in 2011. From 2012 to 2014, he was a Marie Curie fellow at Imperial College London. Prior to joining ICT, he was a research scientist at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva. His main line of research involves machine learning for emotion recognition and behavior understanding. He is a recipient of the Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant and the EU Marie Curie fellowship. He has served on multiple conference organization committees and editorial roles, most notably as associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (2015-2021), general chair for ACII 2021 and technical program chair for ACM ICMI 2018 and ACII 2017. He was the president for the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing (AAAC) (2019-2021).
E-cigarette/Vaping Products, Drug Injecting Behavior, Social Sciences - medical anthropology, Maternal Health, Pregnant women & Marijuana
Rachel Ceasar
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences
rceasar@usc.edu
@rceasara
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/rachel-carmen-ceasar/
Dr. Norah Terrault is Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases and Neil Kaplowitz Endowed Chair in Liver Diseases Research. She received her MD from the University of Alberta and completed fellowships in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the University of Toronto and a Masters in Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Terrault has focused her clinical and research activities on viral hepatitis and steatotic liver disease (metabolic and alcohol-associated), especially in special populations including those with cirrhosis and those with transplants. In addition to multiple clinical trials related to preventing and treating chronic hepatitis viral hepatitis and metabolic steatotic liver disease, Dr. Terrault has been PI on multiple NIH-funded studies, including the current NIDDK-supported Liver Cirrhosis Network and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network (NASH CRN). She has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts, editorials, and invited reviews as well as co-authoring US national guidelines for treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C and alcohol-associated liver disease. She is past associate editor for Hepatology and deputy editor for Liver Transplantation and co-edited Zakim and Boyer’s textbook in hepatology. Dr. Terrault is currently serving as the president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). She is the founder of USC Project ECHO, a multifaceted program to train and support primary care physicians in California to care for patients with viral hepatitis. She has a long history of mentoring fellows and junior faculty in clinical research and is passionate about creating research support and opportunities for the next generation of GI/Hepatology investigators.
Meditation / Mindfulness
Rael Cahn
MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry & The Behavioral Sciences
rael.cahn@usc.edu
@rael_cahn
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and The Behavioral Sciences
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/rael-cahn/
Rael Cahn did his PhD thesis work with the UCSD Department of Neurosciences comparing and contrasting the impact of long term mindfulness (Vipassana) meditation practice and the acute effects of the psychedelic drug psilocybin on perception, attention, and brain activity using EEG methods.
After completing residency in Psychiatry at UC Irvine he joined the faculty with the USC Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Cahn is currently Assistant Clinical Professor with the USC Department of Psychiatry doing research at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute. He is a clinician-scientist with extensive personal experience as a meditation practitioner and experience teaching mindfulness meditation practices to clinicians and patients alike. His research expertise is in the neuroscience of meditation and altered states of consciousness.
Dr. Cahn has investigated the brain states associated with a wide range of meditative practices and their impact on attentional performance and measures of well-being. He is currently using EEG and fMRI methods to investigate the neurophysiologic mechanisms underlying states of meditative awareness in beginning as well as long term meditators.
Other current projects include looking at the neural mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation works in the treatment of depression and addiction. In addition to his work investigating the neural bases to mindfulness and the clinical impact of such practices he continues to have an interest in research assessing the clinical application of psychedelic drugs. He is currently coordinating a study assessing the epigenetic changes underlying the treatment of PTSD using MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.
Tobacco, ecological momentary assessment, gender
Raina Pang
PhD
Assistant Professor of Research, Population and Public Health Sciences
rpang@usc.edu
@DrRainaPang
@KECKSchool_USC
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/raina-pang/
Dr. Pang’s research interest lies in understanding sex/gender differences and women-specific factors in substance use and other health risk behaviors (e.g., eating). Dr. Pang completed a postdoctoral fellowship for mentored training in behavioral pharmacology and laboratory-based menstrual cycle studies and mentored K01 with training in Ecological Momentary Assessment. Currently, Dr. Pang is PI on projects investigating perinatal tobacco use, adolescent eating behavior, and alcohol use across the menstrual cycle.
Emergency Medicine; Medication Assisted Treatment
Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr
MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
trotzkys@usc.edu
@DoingMedicine
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/rebecca-trotzky-sirr/
A family medical practitioner, or family doctor, is a general practitioner with additional expertise in patients of all ages. Family medical practitioners are the best.
Dr Trotzky is the Medical Director of Urgent Care Center at LAC + USC, one of the largest public hospitals in the USA. She is Medical Director of Jail Health Service. She coordinates expansion of treatment for opioid use disorder as as the Southern California ED Bridge Coordinator, with a sub-specialty in addiction medicine.
Health Disparities; Opioids; Diversity/ Cross Cultural; Policy; Social Determinants of Health; Vulnerable Populations
Ricky Bluthenthal
PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Associate Dean for Social Justice
rbluthen@usc.edu
@uscsocialwork
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
CED
Director of Community Engagement and Dissemination
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/ricky-bluthenthal/
Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean for Social Justice and Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and the Institute for Prevention Research in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He received a BA in History and Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz and a MA and PhD in sociology from the University of California Berkeley. His research has established the effectiveness of syringe exchange programs, tested novel interventions and strategies to reduce HIV risk and improve HIV testing among injection drug users and men who have sex with men, documented how community conditions contribute to health disparities, and examined health policy implementation. His current studies include an observational cohort study of how cannabis legalization impacts use patterns and health outcomes of cannabis and opioids among people who inject drugs and a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a single session intervention to reduce injection initiation risk behaviors among established people who inject drugs. Dr. Bluthenthal has authored or co-authored over 180 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, The Lancet, Addiction, and Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research among others. He is on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Drug Policy, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and is an associate editor of the addiction section of the Annals of Medicine.
Legal and Professional Ethics
Rob Saltzman
PhD
Professor of Lawyering Skills
Robsaltzman@gmail.com
Gould School of Law
Policy, PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/?id=301
Rob Saltzman studies legal and professional ethics, the learning process in law school, legislation and the political process, and disabilities issues. He oversaw USC Gould’s Academic Support Program and taught Legal Profession and Legal Analysis of Evidence.
Dean Saltzman was a member of the Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the L.A. Police Department. Saltzman was appointed to the position in 2007 by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after serving as vice president of the L.A. City Ethics Commission. He served on the Police Commission until 2016. President Obama appointed Saltzman to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars in 2011. Saltzman has served on a number of boards and committees for national legal education organizations, including the Law School Admissions Board, National Association for Law Placement Foundation board of trustees, the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Civic Leadership board of visitors at Dartmouth College, and the Association of American Law Schools Section on Pre-Legal Education and Admission to Law School executive board. His writings include “Affirmative Action in Law School Admissions and Legal Employment: Facts, Observations, and Suggestions for Gatekeepers” (Insights: Issues and Opportunities for Law Deans & Hiring Attorneys, 1998).
Prior to joining USC Law in 1988, Dean Saltzman practiced with a Colorado law firm, served as legal counsel to an elected Los Angeles County supervisor, and was special counsel to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. He holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Industrial ecology, including projects on regional materials flow analysis, eco-industrial park planning, lifecycle assessment, and sustainability indicators.
Robert O. Vos
PhD
Associate Professor of Spatial Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies
vos@usc.edu
@USCDornsife
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Spatial Sciences
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://spatial.usc.edu/team-view/robert-vos/
Robert O. Vos, Ph.D., is an associate professor (teaching) of spatial sciences with the USC Spatial Sciences Institute.
His research focuses on industrial ecology, including projects on regional materials flow analysis, eco-industrial park planning, lifecycle assessment and sustainability indicators. One of his specialties is using GIS tools to improve methods used to measure the carbon footprint of many consumer products to more accurately assess their true environmental impact.
Vos also has published extensively on theories and concepts of sustainability. His co-edited book, Flashpoints in Environmental Policymaking: Controversies in Achieving Sustainability, won the annual Lynton K. Caldwell Prize in 1998 from the American Political Science Association for the best book on environmental politics and policy. He also is the recipient of the 2010 Sustainability Award for the SmartPackaging Initiative from Disney Consumer Products.
He teaches and has taught courses in sustainability science in the city in USC Spatial’s undergraduate program, geospatial technology project management and thesis direction in USC Spatial’s M.S. in GIST program, and the research practicum and teaching in the liberal arts course in USC Spatial’s Population, Health and Place doctoral program. In addition, Vos teaches industrial ecology: technology-environment interaction for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He serves and has served as thesis advisor to numerous M.S. in GIST students.
He is certified as a Geographic Information Science Professional (GISP) by the Geographic Information Science Certification Institute (GISCI).
Health Equity in African American and Latinx Communities
Robin Stevens
PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Communication
robin.stevens@usc.edu
@DrRobinStevens
@USCAnnenberg
Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Communication
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/robin-stevens
Robin Stevens, PhD, MPH is a health communication scholar working to achieve health equity in African American and Latinx communities in the United States. Stevens uses digital epidemiology to investigate youth well-being, sexual health, mental health and substance use in the context of the digital neighborhood. She uses interdisciplinary community-engaged approaches to improve the health and well-being of Black youth. Her work is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Stevens is the director of the Health Equity & Media Lab. She received her AB from Harvard College, MPH from the University of Michigan, and PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. She is a proud Philadelphian.
Economics of addiction, market for addictive goods, addiction policy, delivery and financing of addiction treatment, cannabis and opioid policy
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula
PhD
Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Health Policy, Economics, and Law, and Professor
rmp_302@usc.edu
@PaculaRosalie
@SchaefferCenter, @USCPrice
Price School of Public Policy
Health Policy, Economics & Law
Policy
IAS Addiction Policy and Health Economics Co-Lead
https://priceschool.usc.edu/people/rosalie-pacula/
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula PhD holds the Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Health Policy, Economics & Law at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California and is a Senior Fellow with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, where she co-directs the RAND-USC Schaeffer Opioid Policy Tools & Information Center of Excellence (OPTIC) in addition to leading numerous National Institute of Health funded studies examining the impact of federal, state and local laws on the supply, demand and access to treatment for intoxicating substances. Previously she spent 21 years at the RAND Corporation, serving as co-director of RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center for 15 of those years, working on drug policy studies for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Commission, and the U.K. Home Office. She served on NIDA’s National Advisory Council Cannabis Policy Workgroup (2017), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA’s) technical advisory committee on preventing cannabis use among youth (2020-present), the World Health Organization’s Technical Expert Committee on Cannabis Use and Cannabis Policy (December 2019-2020), the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on the Review of Specific Programs in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (2021 – present), the CDC’s National Injury Prevention’s Board of Scholarly Counsellors (2021- present), and is currently President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (2019- present). Dr. Pacula is a graduate from the Santa Clara University and received her doctorate in economics from Duke University.
Opioids; Policy, Evaluation Solutions to Opioid Use and Abuse, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Sarah Anne Axeen
PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
axeen@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Policy
IAS Addiction Policy and Health Economics Co-Lead
https://www.healthpolicy.usc.edu/author/sarah-axeen-ph-d/
Sarah Axeen, PhD is Director of Data and Analytics at the USC Schaeffer Center and an assistant professor of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Her research focuses on understanding drivers of and evaluating solutions to opioid use and abuse in the United States. She also examines the impact of state-level policies on mental and behavioral healthcare outcomes, and has explored geographic variations in healthcare and the relationship between changes in commercial prices and spending and utilization in Medicare.
Axeen earned a BA in public policy analysis and politics, cum laude, from Pomona College, and a PhD, specializing in health policy and economics, from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Her dissertation, “Essays in Opioid Use and Abuse,” won the USC Price Henry Reining Jr. Award for best dissertation written in public policy and management. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the USC Schaeffer Center and the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Legal and regulatory policy on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes
Seth A. Seabury
PhD
Director of Keck-Schaeffer Initiative for Population Health Policy/Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics
seabury@usc.edu
@seth_seabury
Keck School of Medicine/School of Pharmacy (Schaeffer)
Pharmecutical and Health Economics
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/director/seth-seabury-ph-d/
Seth Seabury, PhD, is director of the Keck-Schaeffer Initiative for Population Health Policy at the USC Schaeffer Center and associate professor in the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics. He is also the director of graduate studies for the Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy Program in the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. His work examines the impact of legal and regulatory policy on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes, with a particular focus on at-risk and underserved populations. His research has been published in leading medical and health policy journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, and featured in major media outlets. He has been funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institute on Aging, the California Department of Industrial Relations and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Seabury is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and an associate editor of the International Review of Law and Economics. Prior to coming to USC, Seabury was a senior economist and associate director of the Center for Health and Safety in the Workplace at the RAND Corporation and professor of economics at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
Neurochemistry, dietary intake, behavioral health, decision making, neuroeconomics
Shan Luo
PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
shanluo@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Medicine
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/shan-luo/
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Behavioral Sciences
Siddarth Puri
MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
siddarth.puri@med.usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and The Behavioral Sciences
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/siddarth-puri/
Dr. Siddarth Puri is a psychiatrist in Los Angeles, California and is affiliated with Keck Medical Center of USC. He received his medical degree from University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and has been in practice between 6-10 years.
Disease and medical management, health and wellness programs, benefit design, medical technology evaluation, late-stage and post-market development of pharmaceuticals, devices and health care services, including regulatory and payer strategy.
Soeren Mattke
MD, DSc
Research Professor of Economics
mattke@usc.edu
@SchaefferCenter
Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics/Dornsife
Policy
IAS Faculty Member
https://cesr.usc.edu/people/staff/mattke
Director, Center for Improving Chronic Illness Care, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Center for Economic and Social Research Research Professor of Economics, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Machine learning, multimodal signal processing, and affective computing.
Stefan Scherer
Dr. rer. nat.
Research Assistant Professor
scherer@ict.usc.edu
INstitute for Creative Technologies
Policy, PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://ict.usc.edu/about-us/leadership/research-leadership/stefan-scherer/
Stefan Scherer is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California (USC) and the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) where he leads research projects funded by National Science Foundation and the Army Research Laboratory.
Stefan Scherer directs the lab for Behavior Analytics and Machine Learning and is the Associate Director of Neural Information Processing at the ICT. He received the degree of Dr. rer. nat. from the faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at Ulm University in Germany with the grade summa cum laude (i.e. with distinction) in 2011.
His research aims to automatically identify characterize, model, and synthesize individuals’ multimodal nonverbal behavior within both human-machine as well as machine-mediated human-human interaction. His research was recently featured in the Economist, the Atlantic and the Guardian and was awarded a number of best paper awards in renowned international conferences.
His work is focused on machine learning, multimodal signal processing, and affective computing. Stefan Scherer serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing and is the Vice Chair of the IAPR Technical Committee 9 on Pattern Recognition in Human-Machine Interaction.
Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
Stephanie Eggert
MS
Senior Lecturer
Seggert@usc.edu
@USCDornsife
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Physical Education
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1047499
Stephanie Eggert, M.S. is a Physical Education + Mind-Body Health (PEMBH) Professor at USC and the founder of USC’s Kundalini Yoga and Meditation curriculum. Her other course, “Work-life Balance – Blueprint for Vitality” (MDA 300), gives students practical tools using quantum energy practices to experience their optimum health, creativity, clarity and overall energy, which is part of the Mind-Body Minor. Eggert received her B.S. in Psychology at Loyola University in Baltimore, MD where she captained the Top-10 Nationally ranked Women’s Lacrosse team. After college, she played for the United States National Team, was a nationally ranked triathlete, and began her coaching career at Duke University, another college lacrosse powerhouse. After several years of coaching and teaching at Duke, she later received her M.S. in Kinesiology And Sport Psychology, where her research focused the mental benefits of practicing Yoga, mental attitudes of female athletes, and Flow States. She has co-published research on female athletes and frequently contributes to news and information publications on health and wellness. Her travels have extended to Nepal, Tibet, Scotland, India, Egypt, and other power-points throughout the world. She also teaches the courses Principles of Athletic Coaching and Stress Management for Healthy Living and she co-leads the USC PEMBH Maymester trip to India. Her teaching style and class content gives students an opportunity to step into a deeper, more right-brained way of achieving energetic outcomes while still in an academic setting. Applied creative and energetic techniques for increased positive mental and physical health are the cornerstone of her classes.
Neural network models, social reasoning, personality, virtual reality, sexual behavior, neurobiological bases of risky decision making
Stephen Read
PhD
Professor of Social Psychology
read@usc.edu
@USCDornsife
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Psychology
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1003627
Behavioral Genetics; Psychiatric Comorbidity; Education
Steven Siegel
MD, PhD
Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
Steven.Siegel@med.usc.edu
@StevenSiegel
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/steven-siegel/
Dr. Steven Siegel was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in July 2016. He is a physician-scientist specializing in the treatment of psychosis.
Dr. Siegel came to USC after 20 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where he had roles in research, teaching and clinical care. He received his B.A. in Neuroscience at Colgate University in 1986, and his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurobiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1996. He later completed a MacArthur Foundation Training Fellowship before completing his residency in Psychiatry and a Fellowship in Neuropsychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining USC, Dr. Siegel was involved in, medical, undergraduate and graduate education. He was Associate Director of Masters in Translational Research for 6 years at the University of Pennsylvania. He directed a course on Therapeutics and Commercialization at Penn, based on his experience with technology transfer. Other major educational roles at Penn included Director of the Clinical Training Program that spanned 6 clinical specialties. He was named one of the nation’s outstanding clinicians by the National Association for Mental Illness.
Dr. Siegel has made contributions to understanding the neurobiology of schizophrenia, autism, and drug dependence. His laboratory uses animal models to evaluate EEG, combined with behavioral and molecular studies. Additionally, he invented, patented, and licensed a new method of treatment for schizophrenia using biodegradable implants, which successfully completed a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial and has been submitted as an NDA to the FDA for consideration.
In his current role as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Siegel oversees operations for a department comprised of 200 faculty members, 50 staff members and 100 residents, fellows, and trainees; more than tripling the size of the department in 5 years since he arrived. His department provides a broad range of mental health services to children and adults at LAC+USC Medical Center including Emergency, Inpatient, and Outpatient Services. Additionally, he has expanded and improved the quality of mental health services at Keck Medicine and USC Care, with an emphasis on consultation liaison and specialty services. During his first year at USC he designed and oversaw the incorporation of student mental health services into Keck Medicine of USC. He continues to lead and guide the evolution of student mental health services at USC, both within Student Health, and in the new Keck Medicine student outpatient practice that launched in late 2019. He was named the inaugural Chief Mental Health and Wellness Officer for Keck Medicine of USC in 2021, with responsibility and oversight of mental health services across the Keck enterprise as well as leadership of wellness program as part of Keck Medicine’s nationally acclaimed Care for the Caregiver program.
Over his career at Penn and USC, Dr. Siegel has mentored more than 150 graduate and undergraduate trainees in neuroscience and bioengineering. His research has been supported by federal, state, foundation, and industry sources for more than 25 years. He has published approximately 150 manuscripts as well as multiple book chapters, and one book spanning topics related to drug abuse, basic research in schizophrenia and autism, as well as clinical aspects of schizophrenia.
Adolescents, Young Adults; Alcohol; Opioids; Recovery; Marijuana; Tobacco; Policy; Mental Health
Steven Yale Sussman
PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
ssussma@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/steven-yale-sussman/
Steve Sussman, Ph.D., FAAHB, FAPA, FSPR, received his doctorate in social-clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1984. He is a professor of preventive medicine, psychology, and social work at the University of Southern California (USC), and he has been at USC for 36 years. He studies etiology, prevention, and cessation within the addictions arena, broadly defined, as well as translation research and program development. He has over 500 publications. His programs include Project Towards No Tobacco Use (young teen tobacco use prevention), Project Towards No Drug Abuse (older teen drug abuse prevention), and Project EX (older teen tobacco use prevention/cessation), which are considered evidence-based programs at numerous agencies (i.e., CDC, NIDA, NCI, OJJDP, SAMSHA, CSAP, Colorado and Maryland Blueprints, Health Canada, U.S. DOE and various State Departments of Education). He received the honor of Research Laureate for the American Academy of Health Behavior in 2005, and he was President there (2007-2008). Also, as of 2007, he received the honor of Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 50, Addictions). Also, as of 2019, he received the honor of Fellow of the Society for Prevention Research. He is the current Editor of Evaluation & the Health Professions (SAGE Publications; since 2010). His newest texts are: Substance and Behavioral Addictions: Concepts, Causes, and Cures (Cambridge, 2017) and The Cambridge Handbook of Substance and Behavioral Addictions (Editor; Cambridge, 2020).
Development of Alcohol Problems and Methodological Issues in Alcohol Research
Susan Elizabeth Luczak
PhD
Professor of Psychology
luczak@usc.edu
@USCDornsife
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Psychology
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1008335
Susan E. Luczak received her Sc.B. (honors) in Psychology from Brown University, her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from USC, and her post-doctoral training at the University of California, San Diego. Her research program examines etiological factors in the development of alcohol problems and methodological issues in alcohol research. She is currently investigating genetic, biological, cultural, and psychosocial factors that relate to alcohol use in various ethnic groups, including individuals of African, northeast Asian, Indian, and Caucasian descent in the US and on the island of Mauritius. She also has a line of research in collaboration with Co-PI Gary Rosen to use real-time assessment techniques to examine naturalistic drinking patterns and to develop mathematical models and software to convert transdermal alcohol measurement obtained via wearable biosensors into estimates of breath/blood alcohol concentration.
Control of tuberculosis in resource-constrained settings, with emphasis on policies to address drug-resistance.
Sze-chuan Suen
PhD
Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering
ssuen@usc.edu
@USCViterbi
Viterbi School of Engineering
Management Science and Engineering
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Suen/Sze-chuan
Sze-chuan Suen joined the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor in 2016 and is a faculty member at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Sze holds a PhD from the department of Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Sze's research focuses on how to develop innovative models that adapt to changing demographic and secular trends in healthcare to support actionable policy recommendations. Her research draws from techniques in simulation, dynamic systems modeling, cost-effectiveness analysis, and decision analysis. Her previous work has focused on the control of tuberculosis in resource-constrained settings, with emphasis on policies to address drug-resistance. She has ongoing collaborations with researchers in the Stanford School of Medicine and Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, and she is a member of INFORMS (Institute of Operations Research and the Management Science), and the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM).
Pharmecutical Regulations, History of Drugs, Biorepository Regulation and Ethics
Terry David Church
DRSc, MA, MS
Assistant Professor of Regulatory and Quality Sciences
tdchurch@usc.edu
@USCSchPharmacy
School of Pharmacy
Regulatory and Quality Sciences
TC
IAS Training Consortium Co-Lead
https://pharmacyschool.usc.edu/faculty/terry-david-church-drsc-ma-ms/
Dr. Terry David Church is currently an Assistant Professor in Regulatory and Quality Sciences at the University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy. He is Assistant Director of Pharmacy Undergraduate Programs and teaches in the Pharmacy Undergraduate Program. Prof. Church’s academic focus is on application of pharmaceutical regulations, patterns of addiction, disaster management, and education and training. His areas of interest and expertise include history and geography of drugs, biorepository regulation and ethics; drug addiction and regulation of controlled substances; regulatory practices for continuity and disaster planning; and policies and ethics of academic research.
Dr. Church received his Doctor of Science and Master of Science in Regulatory Sciences from the University of Southern California. He earned a Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Temple University. His doctoral thesis evaluated regulatory practices for continuity and disaster planning for biobanks in the United States. Dr. Church is a faculty fellow of the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching and Associate Director of the educational committee of the Institute for Addiction Sciences. He serves as Director of the STAR science educational program with BRAVO Medical Magnet High School of Los Angeles and USC.
After receiving his Master’s degree from Temple, Dr. Church worked at the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Human Research as the Operations Director for research. He initially worked to help implement human subjects research protections and monitor all clinical trial activity ongoing and planned. He then took a position at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center as Program Manager. He was responsible for all research, clinical, and community activities for Women’s Cancers, Translational Cancer Research, and Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers. For well over ten years, Dr. Church managed the operation and development of Investigator Initiated Trials.
Health Disparities; Opioids; Adolescents, Young Adults; Social Determinants of Health; Vulnerable Populations; Immigrant Health; Emergency Medicine
Todd William Schneberk
MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
tschnebe@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Policy, PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/todd-william-schneberk/
Todd Schneberk is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine, Faculty Co-Director of the USC Keck Human Rights Collaborative and Director of the Gehr Center Student Innovators Program. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at LAC+USC Medical Center and his fellowship in health policy and research at UCLA. He is the EM residency Social Emergency Medicine Coordinator and is passionate about incorporating social justice and human rights in emergency care. His research has demonstrated gaps in the care of Opioid use and disorder patients and the need for incorporation of harm reduction practices in the Emergency Department. He has worked extensively with displaced persons in Tijuana, Mexico since 2015, performed forensic evals for asylum cases with Physicians for Human Rights on both sides of the border including numerous Migrant Protection Protocols (Remain in Mexico) clients in Tijuana, and testified in front of Congress regarding the health effects of the Migrant Protection Protocols. His current research and advocacy projects span immigration and border health policy, hospital-based violence intervention programming, carceral health, opioid use disorder and medication assisted treatment access.
Obesity, behavior change, adolescents and young adults
Tyler Mason
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences
tylermas@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
PPHS
PPHE, Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/tyler-mason/
Tyler Mason, Ph.D., is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California and Associate Director of the Real-Time Eating Activity and Children’s Health (REACH) lab. Broadly, his research interests include the etiology and treatment of eating disorders and obesity. In particular, his research studies trait- and state-based processes that affect individuals ability to engage in self-regulation and goal-directed behaviors among diverse groups such as adults, children, and minorities. Specifically, he investigates how the interplay of factors such as affect, executive functioning, and social stressors are associated with unhealthy behaviors in the context of regulatory, control, and goal theories. Much of this research uses ecological momentary assessment to measure the momentary processes that maintain various eating and diet behaviors and physical activity. Further, he is interested in the use of advanced statistical methodology to further obesity and eating disorder research including multilevel modeling, latent variable modeling, and network analysis. His research has culminated in over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and his research has been featured in top journals such as Psychological Bulletin, Health Psychology, Obesity, and the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Finally, he serves on the editorial boards of two international peer-reviewed journals: Eating Behaviors and Eating and Weight Disorders.
Molecular modeling, structural bioinformatics, membrane proteins, GPCR, structure-based drug discovery
Vsevolod Katritch
PhD
Associate Professor of Quantitative and Computational Biology and Chemistry
katritch@usc.edu
Dornsife College of Letters/Arts/Sciences
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://michelson.usc.edu/faculty-directory/vsevolod-katritch/
Dr. Katritch is a computational biologist and computational chemist focused on development and application of 3D molecular modeling and bioinformatics tools to explore structure, function and pharmacology of membrane proteins and specifically of the GPCR superfamily.
Dr. Katritch received Ph.D. in Biophysics & Molecular Biology from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Following postdoctoral training at the Chemistry Department of Rutgers University, and a position of Director of Computational Biology at SiGA Technologies Inc., Dr. Katritch joined the research faculty of the UCSD School of Pharmacy and San Diego Supercomputer Center, and then Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute.
Research in his group at USC involves deciphering molecular mechanisms of GPCR signaling, computer-assisted design of receptors with improved thermostability and other beneficial properties, as well as discovery of selective small molecule modulators of GPCR activity as chemical probes and lead candidates for drug discovery.
Computer Science
Yan Liu
PhD
Associate Professor of Computer Science
yanliu.cs@usc.edu
@yanliu_usc
Viterbi School of Engineering
Computer Science
PPHE
IAS Faculty Member
https://viterbi-web.usc.edu/~liu32/
I am a full professor in the Computer Science Department, Viterbi School of Engineering at USC. I was an assistant professor from 2010 to 2016, and an associate professor from 2016 to 2020. Before joining USC, I was a research staff member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center from 2006 to 2010. I received my M.S. and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. My research interests include machine learning with applications to health, sustainability, and social media.
Innovations in student and resident education, the primary care pipeline, physician well-being, care for the underserved, arts, humanities and narrative medicine and women and children’s health care.
Jo Marie Reilly (2023 NEW)
MD, MPH
Professor of Clinical Family Medicine (Educational Scholar)
jmreilly@med.usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Family Medicine
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/jo-marie-reilly/
Jo Marie Reilly, MD, MPH is a Professor of Family Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is the Director of the Keck School of Medicine of USC Primary Care Initiative, Associate Director of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine Course and Family Medicine Pre-Doctoral Director. She graduated from Georgetown Medical School, completed her internship and residency in family medicine at the Kaiser Permanente Family Residency Program in Los Angeles and her fellowship in women’s health and obstetrics at the White Memorial Family Practice Residency Program, where she remained as faculty for 13 years.
She is the immediate past Chair of the American Academy of Family Physician’s commission on Education, Student and Resident subcommittee, on the Editorial Boards of Family Medicine, Family Systems and Health and PULSE. She is a USC-Eisner Family Medicine Residency faculty, the senior Family Medicine Student Advisor, and on the leadership team of the Society of Teacher’s of Family Medicine’s bioethics and humanities interest group.
Dr. Reilly’s publications and research interests include innovations in student and resident education, the primary care pipeline, physician well-being, care for the underserved, arts, humanities and narrative medicine and women and children’s health care.
Michael Jakowec(2023 NEW)
PhD
Associate Professor of Rsearch Neurology
mjakowec@surgery.usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Neurology
Biopsych
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/michael-jakowec/
The primary focus of research in Dr. Jakowec's laboratory is to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in neuroplasticity in the injured brain with the emphasis on the basal ganglia, a region of the brain responsible for motor behavior. Currently, his laboratory is exploring the interactions between the neurotransmitter systems involving dopamine, glutamate and serotonine and finding ways to manipulate them to enhance motor behavior. To achieve this goal, animal models of basal gagnglia injury using the neurotoxicant MPTP are being used to investigate intrinsic neuroplasticity as well as using both pharmacological and behavioral modification including intensive treadmill exercise to alter the course of response to injury. Techniques and approaches used in the lab to examine alterations in genes and proteins of interest include immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization histochemistry, western immunoblotting, light microscopy, gene array, protein profiling, neurochemistry, electrophysiology (with John Walsh), PET imaging (with Giselle Petzinger), blood flow studies (with Daniel Holschneider), immune analysis (with Brett Lund), and behavior (with Ruth Wood). A major goal of these studies is to translate their findings to develop new therapeutic treatments for Parkinson's disease and to possibly alter disease progression and demonstrated in our recent publication (Fisher et al, 2008)
Behavioral, psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods to (i) elucidate the mechanisms that underpin eating disorder psychopathology, and (ii) develop precision treatment approaches to optimize patient outcomes.
Stuart Murray (2023 NEW)
PhD
Della Martin Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
stuartmu@usc.edu
@DrStuartBMurray
Keck School of Medicine
Psychiatry and The Behavioral Sciences
IAS Faculty Member
https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/stuart-murray/
Dr. Murray is the Della Martin Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, where he serves as Director of the Eating Disorders Program, and Director of the Translational Research in Eating Disorders laboratory. He has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders for over a decade, and has authored more than 150 scientific manuscripts, books and book chapters, and has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. Dr. Murray's program of research utilizes behavioral, psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods to (i) elucidate the mechanisms that underpin eating disorder psychopathology, and (ii) develop precision treatment approaches to optimize patient outcomes.
Prevention and intervention of substance use among adolescents and young adults with a primary focus on e-cigarette use
Denise Tran (2023 NEW)
PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences
deniset@usc.edu
Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Denise Tran is an assistant professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Loma Linda University. She completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Oregon Health & Science University in 2020. She was a post-doctoral scholar in the PEARL before getting promoted to her current position. Her research focuses on the prevention and intervention of substance use in adolescents and young adults with a primary focus on e-cigarette use and other tobacco products. Her interests also include examining factors associated with alcohol, cannabis, and opioid use.
Viterbi
Pharmacy
KSOM
Dornsife
Annenberg
PPHS
Gould
Price
SOWK
Rossier
Research Interests/Topics School Department IAS Research Groups Bio
Members