Dr. Vivian Gonzalez discusses the lack of evidence for the notion that American Indians and Alaska Natives have a particular genetic predisposition for alcohol use disorders (aka the firewater myth) and her research on the effect of the firewater myth on drinking behavior among American Indian and Alaska Native college students. Dr. Vivian Gonzalez received a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of Hawaii in 2004 and then completed a three-year NIAAA funded postdoctoral training program in alcoholism etiology and treatment at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions. She is an Associate Professor in the UAA Department of Psychology. Her research interests include a) alcohol and other substance abuse etiology and treatment, b) predictors and prevention of suicidality, and c) the functional associations between suicidality and alcohol.