Addressing the Health and Needs of People Who Inject Drugs with Ricky Bluthenthal, PhD

Ricky N. Bluthenthal, PhD is the Associate Dean for Social Justice and a professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Keck School of Medicine of USC. 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 have sex with men, documented how community conditions contribute to health disparities, and examined health policy implementation. His current studies include an observational cohort study of how cannabis legalization impacts use patterns and health outcomes of cannabis and opioids among people who inject drugs and a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a single session intervention to reduce injection initiation risk behaviors among established people who inject drugs. Bluthenthal has authored or co-authored over 180 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.

Learn more about this episode and others at keck.usc.edu/pphs/podcast

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