Natalie M. Alizaga, PhD received her doctorate in Applied Social Psychology from The George Washington University in Washington DC, a MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a BS in Health Science from San Jose State University.  Her research interests focus on elucidating the psychosocial factors related to tobacco cessation and cancer prevention for underserved populations, including barriers and facilitators to routine health care and screening.

Valerie B. Yerger, ND is a licensed naturopathic doctor and Associate Professor in Health Policy at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a former Health Disparities Scholar of the National Institutes of Health. The overarching goal of Dr. Yerger’s work is to frame the disproportionate burden of tobacco among marginalized communities as a social injustice and to inform public health policies so they effectively reach and engage these communities.

Dr. Sung is Professor of Health Economics at the Institute for Health & Aging at UCSF. Her tobacco-related research areas focus on 1) estimating the healthcare costs of cigarette smoking, other tobacco use, and secondhand smoke exposure; 2) economic evaluation of tobacco taxation, other tobacco control policies, and smoking cessation intervention programs; 3) economic impact of smoking on vulnerable populations such as African Americans, Hispanics, low-income people, and persons with mental illness; and 4) global health economics of tobacco use. Dr.

Dr. Smith's work focuses on tobacco control policy, particularly approaches to the tobacco endgame. Past projects include work on the tobacco industry's influence on and relationships with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, tobacco industry interest in diet and obesity issues, tobacco product waste and pollution, and tobacco control policy issues in the U.S. military.

Dr. Ling studies tobacco industry marketing strategies targeting young adults, women, and other high risk population, and new smokeless and novel tobacco product marketing strategies.  She also studies how to use tobacco industry marketing strategies to improve tobacco control programs.

Research program involves estimating the changes in direct healthcare costs due to changes in smoking behavior in large populations, and changes in exposure to passive smoking and health care cost and utilization attributable to adoption of smoke-free laws. Dr. Lightwood has done research in cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis of disease prevention and management programs, cost savings attributable to smoking cessation, and the economics of infectious disease control

Dr. Susan M.Lee recently completed a trial investigating a smoking cessation program implemented preoperatively, through which she gained an understanding of the challenges of implementing a multidisciplinary program and techniques to overcome these challenges.  She has since successfully established strong ties with community agencies, such as the Smokers' Helpline, and collaborated with other researchers, culminating in a peer-reviewed publication and implementation of the program clinically.

Primarily focused on cancer epidemiology and studies of cancer etiology, early development, the environment and social determinants.  Dr.

My research concentrates on oral health research, health disparities research, applied statistical analyses and related method­ological issues. Balancing these components is essential to successful and practical oral epidemiology research. Methodological examination helps ground health research and build convincing argu­ments, while collaborative health research generates opportunities for innovative statistical practice and provides challenges for developing ways to solve real world problems