Cinnamon Bloss

Cinnamon Bloss, Ph.D., is a tenured professor of public health, psychiatry, and medicine at the University of California San Diego and assistant dean of academic affairs at the university’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Longevity Science. She is the founding director of the Center for Empathy and Technology, situated within the UC San Diego Institute for Empathy and Compassion, where she also serves as associate director. 

Bloss conducts interdisciplinary research focused on social and behavioral phenomena related to emerging information and biotechnologies. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and philanthropic donations. In 2021, she was appointed by the NIH director to serve as chair of the Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee that provides recommendations to the NIH director and a public forum for the discussion of scientific, safety, and ethical issues associated with emerging biotechnologies. Prior to assuming leadership of the committee, she served as co-chair of the Gene Drives in Biomedical Research Working Group. 

Bloss was recognized by the Western Societies of Medicine with the Carmel Prize for Research Excellence and has published over 100 papers. She was honored by the American Society of Human Genetics as the recipient of the 2022 Mentorship Award and has mentored over 50 trainees. She has received multiple teaching awards at UC San Diego, where she also founded a new concentration in Technology and Precision Health for the Master of Public Health degree. Dr. Bloss currently serves as Interim Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health. She is a California-licensed clinical psychologist.

For more information, see Bloss’s UC San Diego profile.