Dian Gu is a research analyst at the Institute for Health & Aging (IHA) at UCSF. She earned her PhD in Health Economics/Health Services Research from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. During her doctoral training, she was a PhD trainee at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she gained experience applying health economics methods to cancer research. In that role, she collaborated with clinicians on multiple manuscript projects examining cancer patients’ health care utilization, expenditures, and health outcomes. After completing her PhD, she became a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (CTCRE) at UCSF and later joined IHA. Across her postdoctoral fellowship and current work at IHA, she has conducted a wide range of tobacco-related research. Her primary research interests include: (1) estimating the negative health and economic consequences of tobacco and substance use among vulnerable populations; (2) identifying groups that would benefit from more effective tobacco cessation interventions; and (3) evaluating the effects of tobacco control policies and interventions on vulnerable populations