Ricky Bluthenthal

Professor
Faculty Associate

Ricky N. Bluthenthal is the associate dean for social justice and a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and the Institute for Prevention Research at the Keck School of Medicine of the USC. He received a BA in History and Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz and a PhD in sociology from the University of California Berkeley. His research has established the effectiveness of syringe exchange programs, tested novel interventions and strategies to reduce HIV risk and improve HIV testing among injection drug users and men who has sex with men, documented how community conditions contribute to health disparities, and examined health policy implementation. His current studies include research on the efficacy of a group-based, culturally congruent intervention to reduce HIV risk among recently incarcerated, bisexual African American men, an exploratory, mixed-method study on people who initiated drug injection in their thirties, an evaluation of substance abuse prevention interventions in Los Angeles County, and a community-based participatory research project to reduce multiple health risk among Latinos. Dr. Bluthenthal has authored over 90 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, The Lancet, Addiction, and Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research among others.