Anissa Adams is a recently graduated student who developed a passion for supporting public health initiatives and research during her time at University of California, Davis. While double majoring in Political Science-Public Service and African & African American studies, she discovered the importance of policy change as a crucial form of advocacy, especially regarding public health. She began her research journey focusing on health policy relating to undocumented populations and Medi-Cal access in 2024 and published her work via a student repository for exemplary work. Simultaneously, she began interning with the SOL Project where her enthusiasm for learning about community-based approaches to public health arose. Anissa returned to SOL later that year for another internship opportunity where she continued researching with a focus on understanding youth perceptions of tobacco and marijuana use to form best practices for community-based approaches to cessation. By 2025, her desire to explore and unpack the deep-rooted disparities that the Black Community faces manifested into a Senior Honors Thesis. Here, she explored not only the history of targeted tobacco marketing to the Black community and the health disparities still faced in the community as a result, but related this to similarities to the contemporary cannabis industry and its illusive methods. She is continuing to engage in research opportunities relating to tobacco priority populations, notably doing so as a Cornelius Hopper Scholar.

Anissa’s responsibilities as SOL’s newest Community Engagement Coordinator include building partnerships and focus groups, guiding policy directions, and engaging community members for SOL’s Projects–Advancing Momentum and TRDRP funded Saving Our Legacy: An African American Maternal Smoking Cessation Intervention. Ultimately, she hopes to aid in the creation of further culturally tailored cessation services and an end to the harms of smoking.