Co-Principal Investigator
Tess Boley Cruz, PhD, MPH, CHES, is a clinical assistant professor in preventive
medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
For the past 12 years, she has been involved in research projects and teaching at
the master’s and undergraduate levels in health education, communications and
health disparities. She serves as the co-principal investigator of the Tobacco
Education and Material Lab (TEAM Lab), providing special expertise on materials
development and evaluation.
She served as the first director of the new Master of Public Health Program (MPH)
at USC and currently serves as director of the Health Communications Track in the
MPH program. Dr. Cruz provides the core MPH course on health promotion theory,
and a course on public health communications with an emphasis on tailoring
|strategies and materials to help priority populations. In her undergraduate teaching,
her courses have included a focus on race and gender issues in public health and
on adolescent health.
Her research focuses on health communications, disparities, and tobacco control,
with projects on countering tobacco marketing, and reducing menthol smoking among
African-Americans.
Dr. Cruz earned her MPH from California State University and her PhD from the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.