Theresa Cruz, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist and research associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico, and serves as Deputy Director of the UNM Prevention Research Center. She has 20 years of experience in public health, study design, data collection and analysis, evaluation and use of mixed method research. She is currently involved in several prevention research and evaluation projects on topics including healthy eating and active living and sexual violence prevention. Dr. Cruz received a Doctorate of Philosophy in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina ? Chapel Hill.