Lee Strunin is a medical anthropologist and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Community Health Sciences.  She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Brandeis University. Her work considers the social and cultural aspects of health, illness and disease.  Her primary research focus is the cross-cultural study of alcohol use among different racial and ethnic groups of young people and how cultural factors affect youth drinking.  She is particularly interested in the identification and comparison of risk and protective factors for alcohol related problems.  Dr. Strunin is currently studying alcohol use among young people in Mexico building on a study of young people in Italy and another in the U.S.  Her research is funded by the NIH,  National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).   Dr. Strunin is Deputy Director of the CDC funded Partners in Health and Housing  Prevention Research Center which focuses its research programs on issues specific to public housing residents..  She teaches SB818 Qualitative Research Methods.