Mitchell Wong, M.D. Ph.D.
Principal Investigator. Dr. Wong is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research. He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College in 1989 and his medical degree from UC San Francisco in 1994. He obtained his clinical training in General Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center. After completing a PhD in Health Services Research from the UCLA School of Public Health, he joined the UCLA faculty in 2001. Dr. Wong mentors and oversees the research training for over 60 fellows and junior faculty members across the spectrum of science including basic science, clinical trials and translational research, and health services research. His research focuses on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health care and outcomes, population health, demography and how disparities arise over the life course. His most recent research, funded by NIH/NIDA, examines the impact of successful public schools on adolescent health and health behaviors among low income, minority adolescent
Kulwant Dosanjh, MA
Kulwant Dosanjh is the RISE UP Study Director. She has 15 years of research experience in various capacities and began contributing her efforts to RISE UP in June 2013. She holds a BA in Psychology, a minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies from UCLA, and she completed her M.A. in Clinical Psychology at California State University, Northridge in 2006. Prior to joining RISE UP, her primary research focus was aging and Alzheimer's Disease. Her current research interests include better understanding health and social disparities among underserved minority populations.
Rebecca Dudovitz, M.D.
Rebecca Dudovitz received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, at Davis with a major in philosophy. Afterwards, she attended UCLA medical school where she earned her MD. She completed her pediatrics residency at UCLA in the Community Health and Advocacy Training (CHAT) Program and stayed on as chief resident before entering the Clinical Scholars Program. Her research interests include investigating the relationship between academic achievement and health outcomes and adolescent substance use prevention.
David P. Kennedy, Ph.D.
Dr. Kennedy has a broad range of expertise in examining how the social networks of adolescents influence health outcomes and risky behaviors. In his current position at RAND Corporation he has been examining the role that in-school social networks play in adolescent smoking, drug and alcohol use and risky sexual behavior. He has published several articles from this work and has several more under review at various health-related journals. He has also collaborated with RAND colleagues on studies of homeless people in Los Angeles, including homeless adolescents. He also recently published articles related to social networks and health of adolescents, including the impact of social networks on the process of parents who are HIV+ disclosing their HIV status to their children and the decisions adolescents and parents make regarding well-adolescent primary care visits. Dr. Kennedy has a record of successful and productive research projects related to adolescent peer relationships, including romantic relationships, and risky behavior including substance use.
Dr. Kennedy has a broad range of expertise in examining how the social networks of adolescents influence health outcomes and risky behaviors. In his current position at RAND Corporation he has been examining the role that in-school social networks play in adolescent smoking, drug and alcohol use and risky sexual behavior. He has published several articles from this work and has several more under review at various health-related journals. He has also collaborated with RAND colleagues on studies of homeless people in Los Angeles, including homeless adolescents. He also recently published articles related to social networks and health of adolescents, including the impact of social networks on the process of parents who are HIV+ disclosing their HIV status to their children and the decisions adolescents and parents make regarding well-adolescent primary care visits. Dr. Kennedy has a record of successful and productive research projects related to adolescent peer relationships, including romantic relationships, and risky behavior including substance use.
Steve Shoptaw, Ph.D.
Steven J. Shoptaw is a licensed psychologist and Professor in the UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. Dr. Shoptaw joined the Department of Family Medicine as full professor in 2005. Prior to this, Dr. Shoptaw was a Research Psychologist with the Integrated Substance Abuse Program in the Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science since 2003. Dr. Shoptaw earned his BA (1982) in Psychology and MA (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) in Psychology at UCLA. Dr. Shoptaw completed his postdoctoral training in Psychophysiology at the UCLA NPI/VAMC in Sepulveda, CA in 1991. Following that, Dr. Shoptaw worked for 10 years as a Principal Investigator with Friends Research Institute, Inc., during which time, his program of clinical research with substance abusers supported opening several treatment research clinics in Rancho Cucamonga, Hollywood, South Los Angeles, and West Hollywood. In 1996, Dr. Shoptaw opened Safe House, a 24 bed facility that provides emergency, transitional and permanent housing to persons living with HIV/AIDS, chemical dependency, transitional and permanent housing to persons living with HIV/AIDS, chemical dependency, and mental illness who are homeless or at risk for homelessness. He continues with this program as a volunteer Executive Director.
Joan Tucker, Ph.D.
Dr. Tucker is a Senior Behavioral Scientist at RAND and Deputy Director of the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion. Over the past 10 years, she has published extensively on the developmental patterns, risk factors and consequences of adolescent substance use. Over the past five years, Tucker has been project investigator (PI) or Co-PI of five grants focusing on social network influences on alcohol, tobacco marijuana and other drug use among adolescents and adults. Tucker has also led or co-led three studies focusing on the personal networks of homeless youth, men, and women. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and Society for Experimental Social Psychology, has been on the editorial board of several peer review journals including Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and is a current member of the Risk, Prevention, and Intervention for Addictions (RPIA) NIH study section.
