Hollings Horizons Magazine Fall 2023 - Magazine - Page 22

Research NEWS
LEADING
TOBACCO A
NICOTINE
RESEARCH
Will banning menthol push more people to stop smoking?
Could e-cigarettes be just as effective — or more — as
FDA-approved pharmacotherapy for quitting smoking?
Can e-visits help people in rural areas to stop smoking,
while also alleviating some of the expectations of
overworked primary care providers?
Th o s e a re j u s t a f e w o f t h e q u e s t i o n s that Hollings researchers
are pursuing. Nicotine and tobacco research — and now vaping research —
is a strength at Hollings, which is home to both internationally known
experts and up-and-coming researchers who are asking innovative
questions to help to improve public health.
Tracy Smith, Ph.D., is leading the way with
no less than four grants, putting her in the
company of fewer than 1% of researchers who
hold four simultaneous research project grants
from the National Institutes of Health.
And there are plenty of eyes on her research,
which the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products
(CTP) will use to help to make regulatory
decisions. For example, she’s investigating
whether banning menthol would encourage
people who smoke menthol cigarettes to give
up cigarettes altogether. She’s also looking into
the effects of fruity vape flavors.
Tracy Smith, Ph.D.
Flavored e-cigarettes may make it easier for
people who smoke to stop using combustible cigarettes. On the other hand,
they’re also more appealing to teens and young people — groups that we
don’t want to take up any form of smoking. The FDA must decide on the right
regulatory balance, and Smith’s research will help to guide it.
In her fourth project, she’ll test whether people who’ve struggled to stop smoking
are more likely to be successful by using e-cigarettes or FDA-approved smoking
cessation medication. ◗
20
THE ROLE OF
E-CIGARETTES
IS HOTLY
DEBATED
AMONG PUBLIC
HEALTH
RESEARCHERS
AND ADVOCATES.
While no one would consider
e-cigarettes “safe,” Benjamin Toll,
Ph.D., director of the MUSC
Health Tobacco Treatment
Program, has been alarmed to hear
from doctors who think they’re
more harmful than cigarettes.
He teamed up with the director of
the CTP to publish a commentary
in the respected journal Addiction
to educate health care professionals
that, on the continuum of harm,
combustible cigarettes are the most
harmful option.
And Jennifer Dahne, Ph.D., is
looking for ways to help people in
rural areas to stop smoking. Rural
residents are more likely to smoke
and less likely to quit.
She’s teamed up with primary care
providers in the MUSC Health
Regional Health Network to run a
trial that pushes messages through
MyChart to people who smoke.
They’re invited to answer questions
that will lead an algorithm to
determine the likely best smoking
cessation aid. The primary care
doctor can then pick up after this
preliminary work is completed,
review and validate the algorithm’s
recommendation, and then
prescribe a smoking cessation aid. ◗
HOLLINGS HORIZONS Fall 2023

Paperturn flipbook