Bruce Leistikow, associate professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine, will lend his tobacco control expertise. Among his many studies, Leistikow showed that about 220,000 American children under age 18 are fatherless and 86,000 are motherless because of smoking-related deaths.

Chris Hawkes, assistant professor of nutrition at UC Davis and a research chemist with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Western Human Nutrition Research Center, will collaborate in research to better understand the role of diet in cancer. Among Hawkes’ current studies: whether vitamin E and selenium help prevent prostate cancer in African American men, who have the highest rates of the disease in the country.

Diana Cassady, an assistant professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine, wants to make it easier for people living in low-income urban neighborhoods to eat a healthy diet. She is studying ways to increase the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables in stores serving South Central Los Angeles.