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Dr. Pentz's research focuses primarily on community-level tobacco, alcoholand drug abuse prevention, prevention policy, and large-scale dissemination. Ongoing research includes multi-city/multi-state prevention trials involvingtelevision and community organizations, second generation studies of prevention program effects, competency-based programs for children, and cost effectiveness of prevention programs and policy. Recent research includes translation of evidence-based drug abuse prevention programs to obesity prevention, and evaluation of the effects of the built environment on family obesity risk and prevention, particularly communities that follow smart growth principles. Dr. Pentz is principalinvestigator of several NIH studies on drug use and obesity prevention.
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Susan Ames, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine
sames@usc.edu |
Dr. Ames' research focuses on implicit associations and competing social, personality, and cultural constructs in the etiology and prevention of risk behaviors among at-risk youth and adults. Her work involves the development of new assessments and prediction models of addictive behaviors. Additional interests include neurobiological systems and brain structures associated with implicit processes and addictive behaviors.
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Dr. Baezconde-Garbanati's research focuses on the role of culture and communities in tobacco use and cancer control in ethnic and priority populations. She explores mechanisms to overcome health disparities utilizing a community-based participatory research framework. This work entails collaboration with community agencies and decision makers in translational research, communication of research findings to multiple audiences, including the dissemination of research for policy development purposes and public health practice. Dr.Baezconde-Garbanati is a principal investigator on several projects, among them the Southern CA Cancer Information Services Partnership Program Office and a project on secondhand smoke exposure in Indian owned casinos. She is the co-director and co-principal investigator in the newly established Minorty Center on Childhood obesity and a coinvestigator on the Transdisciplinary Research Center on Energetics and Cancer, working on issues of obesity with African Americans and Hispanic/Latino populations. She is also a co principal investigator on a project on American Indian adolescents and tobacco prevention and another on substance abuse prevention among Hispanic/Latino adolescents. She teaches in the areas of gender, ethnic minority health and international health, cultural competence and on community organizing and mobilization for global health.
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Chih-Ping Chou, Ph.D.
Professor, Preventive Medicine
cchou@usc.edu |
Dr. Chou's research focuses on the development and application
of methodological approaches and statistical techniques in the
area of psychometrics. His research falls into three distinct
areas: evaluation of prevention interventions on substance
use among adolescents; evaluation of substance abuse treatment,
and statistical and methodological application and development
for prevention research. Dr. Chou received a Research Scientist
Award from NIDA to apply and develop advanced statistical
techniques for prevention research. Dr. Chou is a member of
the Health of the Population Integrated Review Group of NIH.
He is also the Co-Principal Investigator and Director
of Training for the China Seven Cities Study, an international
study on health behavior.
Dr. Cruz’s research focuses on health communication
issues in public health, tobacco control, and cultural factors
in health behavior. Current projects include a monitoring
study of tobacco industry marketing practices, an intervention
to reduce tobacco industry sponsorship of public events, evaluation
of the California Hispanic/Latino Tobacco Education Partnership,
and research on pro- and anti-tobacco media exposure in diverse
populations.
Dr. Goran’s research focuses on the etiology
and prevention of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in children,
and he is especially interested in examining this across different
high risk sub-groups of the population. Currently, he serves
as the principal investigator of two National Institutes of
Health grants related to obesity and Type 2 diabetes in children.
In addition, he has several grants examining different types
of interventions (including resistance training and dietary
modification of carbohydrate intake) on reducing risk for
obesity and type 2 diabetes in overweight Hispanic adolescents.
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Carol Koprowski, Ph.D., R.D.
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine
koprowski@usc.edu |
Dr. Koprowski’s research focuses on diet and nutrition, particularly the relationship between diet and physical activity among girls during and a few years after first menstruation. Dr. Koprowski specializes in nutrition for dialysis patients and those with diabetes, and she is interested in using computers as tools to teach nutrition to professional health care providers as well as laymen.
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Dr. Joel Milam
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine
milam@usc.edu |
Dr. Milam's research focuses on the psychological and behavioral adaptation to stress and disease. He is involved with several research projects examining behavioral and quality of life interventions among people living with asthma, cancer, & HIV/AIDS. His interests also include positive psychology and his research emphasizes the role of positive and protective psychosocial and behavioral factors than can influence health and wellbeing.
Dr. Nezami’s research focuses on determinants of behavioral
risk factors for chronic diseases -- cancer and cardiovascular
disease in particular. Risk factors of primary interest are
tobacco use, physical activity, and nutritional practices.
Her other research projects include examination of personality
characteristics (hostility, anger, aggression) in relation
to cardiovascular disease; the psychological predictors of
smoking (depression, anxiety, novelty seeking); and the role
of culture and acculturation in predicting behavior.
Paula Healani Palmer, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She is also Director of Global Development at the Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research. She is Co-PI and Co-Director of the USC Pacific Rim Global Health Framework (PRGHF) and a co-investigator of the USC Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTAURC). She is also Co-PI of an NCI-funded community network to reduce cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders in Southern California and Co-Principal Investigator of the China Seven Cities Study.
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Dr. Reynolds' research focuses on diet and physical activity. He has served as a principal investigator and co-investigator on projects involving the prevention of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases through the modification of diet, physical activity, obesity, sun safety behavior, and substance use. Many of these projects have targeted children, adolescents and families.
Dr. Reynolds maintains strong interests in the theory underlying health behavior and in the use of these theories in the development of health promotion and disease prevention programs. He serves as principal investigator on two intervention studies targeting diet, physical activity and obesity in families and in married couples recruited through a managed care setting. Dr. Reynolds also leads a project testing the built environmental determinants of physical activity and urban trail utilization.
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Dr. Richardson’s primary research interests are in HIV
prevention, asthma prevention in children, cancer screening,
and compliance with treatment regimens. Her current projects
include an intervention study to decrease unsafe sexual behavior
and increase adherence to therapy among persons with HIV disease;
an intervention study to reduce household allergen exposure
for children with asthma; and an investigation of the psychological
and behavioral factors in HIV infection among women.
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Nathaniel Riggs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine
nriggs@usc.edu
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Dr. Riggs's research focuses on understanding the role of emotion in the development of obesity, substance use, and violence. Among his basic research interests are investigations into the neurocognitive basis for how children understand, talk about, and regulate their emotions, skills that are important in the successful execution of healthy decision making. Dr. Riggs applies this understanding of emotion to public health interventions for young people. Dr. Riggs is a Co-Principal Investigator on a 5-year National Institute for Child Health and Human Development/National Institute for Drug Abuse funded research project entitled PATHWAYS that translates evidence-based prevention programs from the fields of substance abuse and violence to a school-based intervention for obesity prevention with a parent component.
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Darleen Schuster, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Instructor, Preventive Medicine
dschuste@usc.edu
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Dr. Schuster currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Master of Public Health Program. Her research focuses on the evaluation of public health communication campaigns, examining the contributions of mass and interpersonal communication channels. She has a particular interest in the effects of alcohol and tobacco marketing on substance use.
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Primary research interests focus on development, evaluation, and dissemination of school- and community-based interventions for disease prevention and health promotion. Her studies are conducted in three main areas: etiology of adolescent substance abuse, theory-based evaluation of prevention programs and diffusion of effective prevention interventions (translation from research to real-world settings). Currently, she is the principal investigator on a study testing the relative effectiveness of two approaches to dissemination of Project TND, a high school-based substance abuse prevention program, an evaluation of "I Decide," a high school-based teen smoking cessation program, and a study of the impacts of exposure to hurricanes on adolescent substance abuse.
Dr. Donna Spruijt-Metz's research focuses on adolescent health, particularly the areas of physical activity, diet and obesity. She was recently funded by the NHCMHD as part of the USC Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Minority Health to conduct a study to understand the acute effects of sugary breakfasts on behavior and mood in minority adolescents. She is currently heading a study aimed at understanding biological and psychosocial determinants of physical activity and exercise in Latina and African American adolescent girls, and is co-investigator on a study looking at neural correlates of appetite using fMRI. She is co-investigator on a study examining Guided Imagery as a modality to help overweight Latino children control their caloric intake and a study testing a new nutrition and exercise program for treatment of obesity in Latino and African American youth. She is trained in motivational interviewing (MI) and is currently studying the use of MI for obesity treatment and prevention in adolescents and prevention of drug use and risky sexual behaviors in emerging adults. All of these studies examine how culture, gender and development influence the meanings of health-related behaviors including physical activity, nutrition, and smoking, and how these meanings in turn influence behavior. In addition, the studies address the impact of biology and metabolism, stress, self-concept, and body image on health and behavior.
Dr. Stacy’s research emphasizes associative memory models
of addiction and other health behaviors. Projects include
a longitudinal study on implicit cognition and alcohol advertising
in adolescents; and the USC Transdisciplinary Drug Abuse Prevention
Research Center (USC TPRC), which focuses on basic research
applications in prevention.
Dr. Sussman s research focuses on addictions, broadly defined. Much of his work is on the prediction, prevention and cessation of tobacco and other drug abuse and in the utility of empirical program development methods. He has written over 300 publications and has three model programs to his credit in these arenas (Projects TNT, TND, and EX). Currently he is the principal investigator of a five-year drug abuse prevention project among high risk youth and emerging adults (Project TND-6). Also, he is the Co-PI of numerous other related projects.
Dr. Ping Sun's research focuses on technology-facilitated interventions to prevent behavioral risk factors (e.g. substance abuse, internet addiction, and obesity). Specifically, he is studying the environmental and dispositional pathways leading to these risk factors and how the pathways can be harnessed with interventions facilitated with current technology. His other research interests include epidemiological research methods and data collection, management, and analysis. As Director of Information Technology, he is heading a team to design and develop web-based operations to facilitate internal communication, project administration, data management and analysis at IPR.
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Dennis Trinidad, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine
dtrinida@usc.edu |
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Dr. Trinidad's research examines the social, environmental, and individual factors relevant to racial/ethnic disparities in health and health behaviors. His main research project involves the design and implementation of a parenting intervention to prevent problem behaviors, including smoking, in Filipino adolescents in Southern California. His second area of research focus examines ethnic differences in the effects of the California Tobacco Control Program. This line of research has identified differences in the age of smoking initiation, as well as gender and acculturation differences in smoking, across ethnic groups. A third area of Dr. Trinidad's research focuses on the role of emotional intelligence (EI) on adolescent health behaviors. His research has revealed a link between EI and adolescent alcohol and tobacco use, independent of demographic and cultural factors. This body of research may eventually augment existing smoking prevention programs for adolescents.
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Jennifer
B. Unger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Preventive Medicine
unger@usc.edu |
Dr. Unger’s research focuses on the role of psychosocial and cultural factors in adolescent health risk behaviors. She is particularly interested in adolescents’ constructions of their cultural identities in a multicultural society, and how those identities affect their relationships with family members, their choice of friends, and their health risk behaviors such as smoking and other drug use. She is also interested in the interactions between genetic factors and the social/cultural context in influencing health-risk and health-promoting behaviors. She is a co-principal investigator of the USC Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTAURC) which is examining gene-environment influences on tobacco and alcohol use among adolescents in the U.S. and China. Her other current research includes tobacco use among American Indian adolescents in California, HIV-risk and protective factors among ethnically diverse young adults, and the effects of tobacco industry marketing.
Dr. Valente's research involves understanding health-related
behavior through mathematical and network models using empirical
studies and computer simulations. He conducts research on
substance abuse prevention and treatment programs and is also
interested in the evaluation of communication programs designed
to promote health-related behavior. Dr. Valente is a principal
investigator on the USC Transdisciplinary Drug Abuse Prevention
Research Center (USC TPRC), which focuses on basic research
applications in prevention.
In Memoriam
(From the HSC Weekly 11/04/2005
-- By Jon Nalick)
 James
Dwyer, professor of preventive medicine, died Oct. 26 following
a prolonged fight with a rare cancer. He was 59.
Dwyer, who joined the Keck School of Medicine in 1986 as an associate professor of research in preventive medicine and became a full professor in 1998, was best known for his transdisciplinary approach to research and his investigation into cardiovascular epidemiology, specifically into the causes and contributors of atherosclerosis, including diet, exercise, stress, genetics and the interaction of these factors.
Ronald Ross, the former Flora L. Thornton Chair in Preventive Medicine at the Keck School, praised Dwyer as an outstanding scientist and researcher.
“More importantly, he was a wonderful person. He was understandably proud of his scientific accomplishments but much more so of his children and his family. His courage and grace during his prolonged illness were truly inspirational. He always was upbeat and optimistic even during the worst of times. Jim was a dear colleague and friend and we will all miss him immensely.”
C. Anderson Johnson, the Sidney Garfield Professor of Preventive Medicine and director of the USC Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, echoed those thoughts, adding that Dwyer was also a pioneer in research that transcended the traditional boundaries of various disciplines.
“One remarkable thing that Jim did and taught others to do was not to be afraid to cross lines,” he said, noting that Dwyer's training in social psychology and mathematics made him especially well suited to perform groundbreaking community-based research in the etiology of cardiovascular disease.
“His contributions to our knowledge of cardiovascular epidemiology are remarkable and paved the way for future research leading to improved health outcomes,” Johnson said.
Born in Pasadena in 1946, Dwyer attended Temple City High School and studied undergraduate mathematics at Heidelberg University in the Federal Republic of Germany. He received a bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University in 1968 and later studied mathematics at UC Irvine's graduate school.
He served research fellowships at Caltech, the Ames Research Center in Palo Alto and UC Santa Cruz in the early 1970s and received his doctorate in social psychology from UC Santa Cruz in 1975.
Dwyer was a lecturer at James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia, from 1975 to 1978 and an assistant professor at SUNY Stonybrook from 1979 to 1983. He served as a biostatistician at the Institute for Epidemiology in Berlin from 1984 to 1986 before moving to USC.
Dr. Dwyer's primary research interests include identifying factors that
impact the progression of intimal thickening of the carotid artery and the
subsequent development of cardiovascular disease, investigating the biologic
and psychological effects of exposure to dioxins, and environmental and
public health policy.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen Dwyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, and three children.
(For additional information call 626-457-6600)
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