Publications by Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria
Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria, MD, is the UW-CTRI Director and the Jan and Kathryn Ver Hagen Professor of Translational Research in Medicine. She is tenured.
Kathuria is a pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine physician whose research, advocacy, and clinical efforts are focused on clinical care and policy regarding tobacco dependence in communities disproportionally affected by tobacco use.
Before joining UW-CTRI, Dr. Kathuria developed and directed the Tobacco Treatment Center at Boston Medical Center, where a multidisciplinary team of health professionals provides tobacco consultation to more than 1200 hospitalized individuals each year, regardless of readiness to quit or clinical diagnosis.
She collaborates with other UW departments and funders to empower UW-CTRI’s work to reduce the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Wisconsin and the nation.
Kathuria chairs the American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) Tobacco Action Committee and the ATS Tobacco Control Task Force, where she helps organize and coordinate the ATS tobacco control and tobacco dependence treatment activities, including research, clinical, educational, advocacy and policy activities with the ultimate goal of minimizing the impact of tobacco on morbidity and mortality worldwide.
She’s no stranger to the Midwest, born and raised in Chicago. She earned her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University, her medical doctorate at Loyola University Chicago, and conducted her residency and chief residency at Indiana University. She completed her pulmonary and critical care fellowship at Boston University Medical Center and stayed on as faculty for 20 years before returning to the Midwest to join UW-CTRI in 2024.
She has contributed to tobacco-related policy statements, clinical practice guidelines, articles, book chapters and the forthcoming U.S. Surgeon General’s Report. She serves as the Section editor on tobacco treatment for UpToDate and is on the Editorial Board for the Thoracic Oncology Prevention Section of American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) medical journal, CHEST. She is also a member of the American Cancer Society (ACS) National Lung Cancer Round Table, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Treatment Research Network and Policy Research Network, and ACCP’s Tobacco workgroup.
The goal of her research is to improve patient-centered outcomes relating to delivery of effective tobacco treatment in the lung cancer screening setting, improving tobacco-related disparities in individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, and in understanding the health consequences of new and emerging tobacco products.
She strives to ensure that socially disadvantaged individuals are represented in research studies, with clinical and research interests and advocacy efforts focused on interventions and policies to mitigate health inequities in tobacco use and treatment. She continues UW-CTRI’s work on tobacco disparities.
“Kathuria’s outstanding leadership, clinical and research skills make her the perfect individual to lead the center,” said Dr. Robert Golden, the dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Kathuria has published over 50 papers as well as several articles and book chapters on tobacco policy and treating tobacco dependence and has been the principal investigator on seven intramural and externally-funded research awards. She has received 25 awards or honors, including the 2010 Department of Defense Lung Cancer Promising Clinician Research Award, the 2017 American Lung Association Lung Cancer Discovery Award, fellowship in the American Thoracic Society, being named the 2022 American Thoracic Society Chair of the Tobacco Action Committee, and most recently, the recipient of the 2024 American Thoracic Society Assembly on Thoracic Oncology Mid-Career Achievement Award.
She is especially proud of receiving the inaugural Clinical Innovator Award from the Evans Foundation at Boston University School of Medicine, for starting the ‘opt-out’ inpatient tobacco treatment program.
She is a clinically active pulmonologist in Wisconsin and partners with several of the UW-CTRI researchers.
She has completed five marathons, most recently the 2014 Chicago Marathon, and now runs three to five miles daily as a hobby and to clear her mind.
To schedule interviews with Dr. Kathuria or UW-CTRI representatives, contact Communications.
