Dieter Meyerhoff, PhD, is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco and at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is also Co-Director of the Treatment Research Center in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF. Dr. Meyerhoff completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Westphälische Wilhelms Universität in Münster, Germany, and he obtained his PhD in Chemistry at Westphälische Wilhelms Universität, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley Department of Chemistry.
Joshua Miller is a political scientist that focuses on the intersection of public health policy and vulnerable populations. Joshua received his Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America in Politics.
Dr. Mock conducts collaborative action research examining how people’s cultural context shapes their patterns of tobacco/nicotine use. As a health anthropologist, for over two decades he has focused on examining how and why people’s lived experience of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure is deeply rooted in culture. His research explores how cultural and political-economic change can influence tobacco use within a cultural group. He is now working on the tobacco/nicotine endgame.
Mehrdad Mohammadi, MD, MPH, MA in Law and Diplomacy received his credentials in medicine, public health, law and development economics from Tehran University, Tufts University and Harvard University. He has been an adjunct professor at the School of Public Health at Tehran University teaching Justice and Public Health Law. Working with the WHO, Dr. Mohammadi has advised the Ministry of Health on International Health Regulations and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Dr. Mohammadi is a physician-scientist and an Early Career Investigator with over 12 years of experience in clinical vascular studies including pre-doctoral work with much of it focused on studying vascular effects of tobacco and marijuana exposure. She has clinical and research background in cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension, and endothelial dysfunction. Dr. Mohammadi is leading the UCSF CANDIDE study, which investigates the effects of chronic cannabis use on vascular function.
Jelena Mustra Rakic, PhD, received her PhD in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition from Tufts University in Boston. Her dissertation was focused on elucidating the effect and mechanisms of the naturally occurring carotenoid, lycopene, on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung carcinogenesis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The important finding from her PhD implicated smoking-related alterations in lipid metabolism as one of main pathways leading to chronic inflammation and lung diseases development.
Nhung Nguyen, PhD, received her doctorate in Epidemiology from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, and her BS in Pharmacy from Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Vietnam. Her dissertation was among the first to examine smoking prevalence, nicotine dependence, and related factors among HIV-positive people in Vietnam. Her research interests include application of technology and data science in smoking cessation intervention among smokers with polysubstance use, and in smoking prevention among youth and young adults.
Dr. Nguyen is the Stephen J. McPhee, MD Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A general internist with a panel of diverse patients, Dr. Nguyen teaches medical students and residents about medicine, health equity, and community-based participatory research (CBPR).
Andre Luiz Oliveira da Silva, PhD received his doctorate from Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca in 2019 with a specialization in public health. Dr. Oliveira da Silva joined the CTCRE in June 2022. As the Tobacco Center's first Briger Fellow, he anticipates spending one year in the Tobacco Control Research Fellowship both gaining from our faculty's expertise and sharing his rich experiences in tobacco control research from his homeland of Brazil. Dr. Oliveira da Silva will be mentored by Stella Bialous, DrPH, FAAN, also from Brazil.
