Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM), University of Southern California (USC). He also holds the Flora L. Thornton Chair in Preventive Medicine. Since 1991, Dr. Bluthenthal has conducted community-partnered research on risk behaviors, drug use related health problems (i.e., HIV, HCV, overdose) and harm reduction efforts to prevent these health outcomes among people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and other disadvantaged populations. His studies have been funded by NIDA, NIAAA, NIMHD, and the CDC among others. Dr. Bluthenthal has published over 225 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is on editorial board of the International Journal of Drug Policy and Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 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 service 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.