Active Studies

As of July 2024, UW-CTRI had 7 active studies. These included:

1. Avenues Study. For people who both smoke and vape, there will be new paths to help them address their relationship with nicotine. The goal of the research is to identify the most effective ways to help people who both smoke and vape to quit smoking. Researchers will recruit 500 people who both smoke and vape. Participants will be randomized to one of two levels of each treatment factor: Medications – participants will get either varenicline or nicotine patch. Counseling approach – participants will either be encouraged to just quit smoking (and keep vaping) or to quit both smoking and vaping. Counseling intensity – participants will get either one coaching session or four sessions. Participants can earn up to $445 by completing the year-long study. In their effort to recruit 500 participants, the research team will partner for the first time with Evidation, a vendor with more than 5 million members who have already volunteered to participate in research. Participants will use smartphones to share information with researchers two weeks before and after their quit dates. Participants will record smoking, vaping, medication use, craving levels, self-efficacy and other insights every evening. To date, no published studies have identified effective ways to help people who both smoke and vape to quit smoking. May 2024-May 2029, $4.3 million. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Megan Piper and Dr. Tim Baker, PIs.
2. Helping Young People Quit Vaping. More than 1.4 million adolescents and 4.7 million young adults in the United States report vaping, according to FDA and CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey. The majority never smoked. The goal of this K08 training grant is to improve understanding of how to engage adolescents and young adults in vaping cessation treatment and ultimately discover how best to help them to quit. They’ll examine youth perspectives on strategies to increase engagement with the evidence-based texting app called This is Quitting. Williams plans to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of two enhancements to This is Quitting—financial incentives and FDA-approved medications. In addition, Williams will use data from the PATH Study to better identify predictors of quit attempts as well as success. April 2024-April 2029, $967,000. Funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH. Dr. Brian Williams, PI.
3. Breaking Addiction to Tobacco for Health 2 (BREATHE 2). As part of their fifth consecutive, five-year NIH Center grant, researchers at the University of Wisconsin are comparing the most effective treatments to help people quit smoking in real-world clinics, with a goal of tailoring and optimizing help to people who smoke. UW-CTRI is partnering with health systems to treat more than 4,000 clinic patients. They’re reaching out to patients listed as people who smoke in electronic health records to help those who are ready to quit and motivate those who aren’t. About 25 million people who smoke in America make a primary care visit each year, but only about five percent of people who smoke who try to quit use the cessation counseling and medication we know can help. In this study, the research team will reach out to them and offer these treatments. May 2019-May 2025, $12.5 million. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Drs. Timothy Baker and Michael Fiore, PIs.
4. Smoking Treatment for Oncology Patients (STOP Cancer). UW-CTRI will reach out directly to UW Carbone Cancer Center patients who smoke to let them know about their tobacco treatment options. Patients will also be invited to join a new study comparing two active treatments to see which helps more people with cancer quit smoking. The short-term goals of the STOP Cancer Study are to identify specific smoking treatment needs of patients living with cancer, and then to adapt smoking cessation treatment outreach and counseling to address those needs. People who consent to enter the STOP Cancer Study will be randomized to a standard care condition offering three counseling calls and two weeks of nicotine patch, or to an enhanced condition offering seven counseling calls tailored to cancer challenges with 12 weeks of varenicline, a non-nicotine pill to see which active treatment helps more people quit smoking. Patients not interested in the study can get standard treatment from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line or mobile health tools from SmokeFree.gov. The long-term objective of this work is to identify promising strategies to evaluate in larger-scale trials and then disseminate to cancer programs.  This is part of the larger UW-CTRI effort to improve cessation treatment effectiveness and delivery for patients living with cancer. August 2023-July 2024, $50,000. Funded by the UW Carbone Cancer Center Head & Neck Cancer SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) via the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Dr. Danielle McCarthy, PI.
5. UW-CTRI Outreach Program – JUUL Settlement. UW-CTRI has a grant to work with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Tobacco Prevention and Control Program to help individuals ages 18-24 quit vaping. UW-CTRI will develop content for a brief, scalable, single-session intervention for 18–24-year-old e-cigarette users to promote cessation. Decisions about content and how the material would be presented will be co-designed with input from young adults, using focus groups of people who are ages 18-24 and currently or previously vape(d). The primary outcomes will be engagement with the intervention as well as changes in key attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intention about quitting vaping. Karen Conner coordinates these efforts. January-December 2024, $193,000. Funded by the Wisconsin Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TPCP). Jesse Kaye, PI.
6.  

   Motivating Change in Aging People Who Smoke. This K23 award funds a research study to increase smoking cessation in adults aged 50 and older. While these adults smoke at lower rates (8.2%) than the general population (13%), their cessation rates are also lower, in part because they are less likely to be advised to quit or offered help by providers. A common misperception is that mature adults can’t or won’t quit and, if they do, they won’t benefit from it. But the research reflects the contrary. When they do try to quit, they’re generally more successful than younger people, especially when they use evidenced-based treatments (which double their success). The study will run qualitative interviews to look at what might motivate older adults to quit. One potential incentive is pointing out that quitting smoking can reduce risk for cognitive decline—commonly cited as the greatest fear among mature adults, but one yet to be used for motivation with smoking cessation. UW-CTRI will recruit participants via signs, posters, calls from each person’s clinic, and a letter to motivate and offer treatment. Researchers will compare that to a clinic with no message and a clinic with a standard motivational method. The group plans to run the study at three clinics in the same health system. They’ll be tuned into any behavioral health symptoms and the socioeconomic status of the participants to better analyze and interpret results. Drs. Megan Piper, Carey Gleason, Jane Mahoney, and Jessica Cook are serving as co-mentors to Principal Investigator Dr. Adrienne Johnson. May 2021-Feb 2026, $782,000. Funded by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Adrienne Johnson, PI.

7. R35 Outstanding Investigator Award. This seven-year grant will empower UW-CTRI to identify and disseminate effective, innovative ways to help cancer patients quit smoking. Specifically, UW-CTRI researchers, led by grant PI Dr. Michael Fiore, will further evaluate innovative approaches to helping cancer patients who smoke to quit. They’ll advance knowledge regarding interventions and health-system changes that will support more patients living with cancer to break free from tobacco dependence. Research studies supported by this grant will identify effective interventions to help people with cancer quit smoking for good, as well as efficient and equitable ways to connect cancer patients with such treatments. UW-CTRI will work with diverse cancer-care programs across the nation to assist with implementing evidence-based smoking treatment for patients living with cancer. They’ll develop guides to disseminate the best strategies to cancer centers nationwide. In addition to Fiore, UW-CTRI Director of Research Dr. Danielle McCarthy and UW-CTRI Associate Director Dr. Tim Baker will lead the science. UW-CTRI Researcher Mark Zehner will manage the project. December 2022-December 2029, $6.5 million. Funded by the National Cancer Institute. Michael Fiore, PI.

For a live look at current UW-CTRI Studies, click here.