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Ricky N. Bluthenthal, PhD

Associate Dean for Social Justice & Professor
University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine/Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, California

Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Populations and Public Health Sciences (DPPHS), Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in DPPHS, and Associate Dean for Social Justice in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Since 1991, Dr. Bluthenthal has conducted community-partnered research on risk behaviors and health promotion among people who inject drugs (PWID), men who have sex with men, and other disadvantaged populations. His current studies include an observational cohort study on the substitution of cannabis for opioids among PWID, an evaluation of the Hollywood LEAD program, and qualitative, life histories of opioid use among substance using men who have sex with men. His studies have been funded by NIDA, NIAAA, NIMHD, and the CDC among others. Dr. Bluthenthal has published over 190 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is on editorial board of the International Journal of Drug Policy, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and PLOS ONE. Dr. Bluthenthal has received numerous awards including the John P. McGovern Award for Excellence in Medical Education from the Association for Multidisciplinary Education & Research in Substance Use & Addiction, the William Foote Whyte Distinguished Career Award from the Sociological Practice & Public Sociology section of the American Sociological Association, and the Social Science Distinguished Alumni Award from the Social Science Division of the University of California Santa Cruz. As a graduate student, Dr. Bluthenthal co-founded the syringe exchange program in Oakland, California and was a founding board member of the National Harm Reduction Coalition. Dr. Bluthenthal received his BA in History and Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz, and his MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of California Berkeley.

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