Thomas W. Valente

TThomas W. Valente, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Network Interventions: Using Social Networks to Accelerate Diffusion, Improve Performance, and Speed Organizational Change. (2026, Taylor & Francis); Social Networks and Health: Models, Methods, and Applications (2010, Oxford University Press); Evaluating Health Promotion Programs (2002, Oxford University Press); Network Models of the Diffusion of Innovations (1995, Hampton Press); and over 275 articles and chapters on social networks, behavior change, and program evaluation. Valente uses social network analysis, health communication, and mathematical models to implement and evaluate health promotion programs designed to prevent tobacco and substance abuse, unintended fertility, STD/HIV infections, physician behavior, policy diffusion and other behaviors. He is currently working on specifications for analyzing network models of diffusion and contagion with the R package NetdiffuseR. Valente is also well known for his work using networks for intervention and implementation. Valente is the director of the USC Center for Applied Network Analysis. He has received numerous national and international awards as well as teaching and mentoring ones. Valente earned his BS in Mathematics from the University of Mary Washington, his MS in Mass Communication from San Diego State University, and his PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.