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Research

Research faculty at the Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training (CTTRT) have been conducting tobacco related research for over 35 years that spans in a wide range of key areas in the tobacco treatment field. Our mission is to build knowledge and inform treatment models and policies to reduce mortality and morbidity due to tobacco use and nicotine dependence.

Our faculty conduct cutting-edge research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that spans the translational continuum. Areas of focus include research to:

1. elucidate brain areas, neural circuitry, and molecular mechanisms underlying nicotine addiction;
2. develop evidence-based tobacco treatment approaches to inform best practices, including the innovative use of technology, text messaging, and health communication techniques to reduce use in youth and adults;
3. apply implementation science approaches to integrate tobacco screening, prevention, and treatment within health care, cancer care, and public health practice; and
4. understand the marketing of tobacco to inform tobacco marketing regulations.

Our Center’s research programs are integral to the Tobacco Treatment and Nicotine Dependence (TTND) Research Committee of the UMass Cancer Center’s Cancer Population Health Sciences (CPHS) Program.

Our faculty and their tobacco-related research interests are noted below. Click on each faculty member’s Academic Profile link to learn more about their work.

Faculty and their Tobacco Related Research

Elise Stevens, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Director of Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training (CTTRT) in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to health communication. Marketing techniques. Public education campaigns.

Lori Pbert, PhD
Professor,
Director Emirtus of Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training (CTTRT) in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Development of evidence-based tobacco treatment approaches for youth to inform best practices in pediatric clinical and school health settings. Understanding the development of nicotine development in youth and young adults, including e-cigarette use.

Judith Ockene, PhD, MEd, MA
Professor,
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Medical student and resident training in tobacco treatment. Brief physician intervention for tobacco treatment and dependence. Factors affecting nicotine use status.

Rajani Sadasivam, PhD
Professor,
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Technology assisted tobacco treatment interventions. Computer tailoring of motivational messages. Social networking. Adaptive recruitment.

Andrew Tapper, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurobiology Director, Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute (BNRI)
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Elucidating the brain areas, circuits, and molecular mechanisms underlying nicotine addiction and addiction-related behaviors using modern basic neuroscience approaches.

Edwin Boudreaux, PhD
Professor,
Department of Emergency Medicine
Academic Profile

Research interests: Brief interventions for tobacco treatment and dependence. Understanding how medical illnesses and healthcare encounters can be used to trigger short- and long-term tobacco cessation. Developing and testing cognitive and affective theoretical mechanisms of action. Technology enabled tobacco interventions. Ecological momentary assessment. ehealth. mhealth. Sentinel events. method.

Mayuko Ito Fukunaga, MD, MS
Assistant Professor,
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Department of Medicine
Faculty, Meyers Health Care Institute
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Lung cancer prevention. Implementation of high-quality lung cancer screening. Technology-assisted implementation. Embedded implementation science research in clinical settings. Co-designing/co-production. Shared decision-making. Patient-centered communication.

Krishna Poudel, PhD, MHSc, MPA, MA
Director, Institute for Global Health Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Policy School of Public Health and Health Sciences, UMass Amherst
Academic Profile

Research Interests: mHealth intervention for tobacco cessation, translation of research findings into practices, and tobacco use in low and middle-income countries.

Kimberly Fisher, MD
Associate Professor,
Department of Medicine
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Implementing evidence-based smoking cessation treatments in practice.

Benjamin Marlin, PhD
Associate Professor Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amhersts
Academic Profile

Research Interests: Machine learning-based just-in-time adaptive interventions for smoking cessation support. Time series analysis and probabilistic modeling of mobile health and wearable sensor data.