Claradina Soto, (Pueblo, Diné) PhD, MPH, is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research. She has extensive experience working with California Tribes and Native American communities in urban settings. Dr. Soto is a Governor Appointee to the Tobacco Education Research Oversight Committee, (TEROC), a legislatively mandated advisory committee to oversee the use of Proposition 99 tobacco tax revenues toward commercial tobacco prevention education and tobacco related research. She has worked on several grant based studies including two funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), as Principal Investigator. The first study will investigate the efficacy of Project SUN (Stop the Use of Nicotine), a teen smoking cessation program to promote tobacco use cessation among American Indian teens throughout California. The second is a study to evaluate an American Indian youth driven media campaign to create commercial tobacco prevention media messages on commercial tobacco abuse/ Electronic Smoking Devices (ESDs) and its harmful effects with Digital Storytelling, Photo Voice, and a Public Service Announcement. She is also a Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science (TCORS), Co-Investigator. The USC TCORS Project 2 examines knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of small independent retailers in vulnerable population (African American, Latino, Korean, and American Indian) neighborhoods & tribal lands regarding compliance with FDA regulations in California. Dr. Soto is a longtime advocate for the Native American/Alaskan Native communities and other priority populations to advance health equity.