Dr. Gardiner is a Public Health activist, administrator, evaluator, and researcher.  For the past 25 years, he has worked on studies ranging from Hypertension, Multiculturalism, and AIDS, to Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Diabetes, and Smoking.   For the past 20 years, Dr. Gardiner has lectured around the country on African American health disparities generally and menthol smoking in the Black Community, particularly. 

Dr. Gardiner recently retired as the Senior Program Officer for the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), University of California Office of the President, a position he had been in since 1997.  Dr. Gardiner is currently the Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), a group of Black professionals dedicated to fighting the scourge of tobacco impacting African American communities both in California and Nationally.