UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention
Overall cancer death rates continue to decline in men and women for all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. From 2003 to 2018, under the leadership of Dr. Bob Croyle as Director of the Division of Cancer Control and …
Researchers tested a new way to bring smoking cessation to smokers with mood disorders—a group with high smoking rates but low success with traditional quitting methods. The study, published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, was centered around using smartphones for mindfulness exercises—in combination with “contingency management,” or rewards for demonstrated improvement—during a quit attempt, and …
The state of Wisconsin Department of Health Services is working to incorporate tobacco treatment into the training of peer specialists as they work to become certified. Specifically, it is using a report created by UW-CTRI in collaboration with two certified peer specialists. The report, called Roles for Certified Peer Specialists to Support Peers as they …
Two free resources to help people quit smoking are available from the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI), part of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. These include the: UW-CTRI has served approximately 300,000 patients via research studies and outreach programs and led the development of the US Public …
Researchers examined the ways electronic health records and a new approach to tobacco cessation treatment could be used to help cancer patients quit smoking. The results, published in Cancer Epidemiology, are promising: before the new approach, only 3.2% of people who smoke got treatment and only 12.4 percent actually quit; after, those numbers peaked at …
A paper published today in JAMA shows that using varenicline for just three months with counseling was as effective to help people quit smoking as taking it longer—or in combination with the nicotine patch. “Previous research suggested that using varenicline for longer than 3 months—or along with the nicotine patch—could enhance its effectiveness,” said Dr. …
Wisconsin behavioral health providers who treat substance use disorders are required by October 2022 to formulate plans to assess and treat tobacco use and have a policy about smoke-free environments. It’s due to the State of Wisconsin’s revised Administrative Code Chapter 75. The revision includes updates to outdated language and improves upon provision of care …
UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Thomas Piasecki has been named as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (affiliated with Division 50, Society of Addiction Psychology). He is also a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the recipient of research awards from the American Psychological Association, the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research, and the …
What if the state of Wisconsin could help pregnant women quit smoking, help babies grow up smoke-free, and it would pay for itself? Researchers from UW-CTRI and First Breath discovered that paying pregnant Medicaid members to engage in help to quit smoking not only worked, but the costs to Medicaid would likely be recovered. Maternal …
Amy Conlon has moved on from UW-CTRI to pursue a career as a Population Health Manager for Exact Sciences, implementing initiatives to increase colorectal cancer screenings with health systems and insurers. Amy has a true passion for public health, cancer control and colorectal screening and is excited for this opportunity. The new Director of Research …