MD, MPH
Professor
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Prevention and Control
Area of interest
As Director of the UNC School of Medicine’s Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program (TPEP) and its Nicotine Dependence Program (NDP), I oversee an active research and service delivery program with seven full time staff and multiple part time staff. We have extensive expertise conducting research and evaluation on tobacco cessation programs, tobacco control coalitions, tobacco control policy and advocacy research, tobacco media campaigns, training and technical assistance. We have worked collaboratively for over 16 years with private and public organizations around all facets of tobacco prevention, cessation, and policy.
Our major efforts have included tobacco research and evaluation with leading national organizations. These collaborations have enabled our programs to publish over 50 publications in leading tobacco control and national journals on all phases of tobacco control research. We have authored dozens of reports disseminated widely and effectively to policy makers, presented dozens of presentations on research and evaluation to national audiences, and facilitated substantive improvement towards improved tobacco quitlines, media campaigns and policy outcomes in multiple environments for multiple at-risk populations.
We currently evaluate the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Tobacco Initiatives, a comprehensive $18 million annual tobacco prevention and cessation program for North Carolina teens, young adults, and adults (this includes 46 teen coalitions, statewide media campaign evaluation, statewide evaluation of quitline, and statewide evaluation of college tobacco-free initiative on dozens of college campuses). We are currently working on a new federally funded project examining compliance with tobacco advertising and labeling retail store inspections. This past year, TPEP collaborated with the UNC School of Dentistry and the NC Department of Public Health to examine public perceptions of the value of initiatives to increase cessation activities compared to the value of initiatives to reduce teen tobacco use.
Our NDP program has an active and expanding presence in the North Carolina Cancer Hospital and across the UNC Health Care system. We see over 150 referrals a year from Cancer Providers for patients addicted to nicotine. The Cancer Hospital NDP program has established an interdisciplinary NDP research program, setting up programs and resources to begin applying for state and federal grants on tobacco addiction among cancer patients and their families. We also see over 1000 patients annually admitted to UNC Hospitals with tobacco addiction and interest in quitting. We have established one of the first tobacco registries in the country to begin to enroll over 3500 tobacco using patients in UNC Family Medicine?s outpatient clinics into an evidenced-based chronic disease registry. This registry should expand over time to include all UNC Health Care outpatient clinics and can begin a major source for future research projects on cancer control and nicotine addiction.
Awards and Honors
- 1990 NIH National Research Service Award – Primary Care Research Fellowship, Chapel Hill, NC
- 1997 Excellence in teaching and scholarship, UNC Department of Family Medicine
- 1998 Rising Star Award University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC
- 1999 Young Leadership Award, Durham/Chapel Hill Jewish Federation
- 2000 Award for Community Service, Governor James Hunt
- 2000 Physician Excellence Prevention Award, North Carolina Prevention Partners
- 2001 UNC Chancellor’s Award for Service
- 2002 4H Distinguished Service Award
- 2003 Ned Brooks Award for Service
- 2006 Academy of Educators, UNC School of Medicine
- 2009 Evan’s Lifetime Leadership Award, Durham
- 2010 U.S. Army Dental Command Presentation Award
- 2011 WCHL Hometown Hero Award, Chapel Hill, NC, December, 2010
