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School of Public Health students receive pre-doctoral fellowships in tobacco-use prevention

By WENDY TANSON
UNC School of Public Health

CHAPEL HILL -- The Association of Schools of Public Health has selected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health as one of two schools to receive a Scholarship, Teaching and Education Program in Tobacco Use Prevention, or STEP UP, fellowship.

The University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health also has received this distinction.

The fellowship, provided through a grant from the American Legacy Foundation, will fund the research of four pre-doctoral candidates at the School of Public Health for three years.

Each student, a Tobacco Control Scholar, conducts mentored research on a tobacco-control issue. Dr. Kurt M. Ribisl, assistant professor of health behavior and health education, directs the program. Assistant director is Dr. Christine Jackson, associate professor of health behavior and health education.

"We are very excited to offer a training program for our students that addresses tobacco-use prevention and control," Ribisl said. "Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and it is of paramount importance to train the next generation of researchers and leaders."

Fellowship recipients are Catherine Rohweder, Eric Pevzner, Natasha Jamison and Eileen Yam.

Rohweder, from Cleveland, is conducting doctoral work in the department of maternal and child health and the Public Health Leadership Program. Her research includes an evaluation of the Oregon Smoke-Free Mothers and Babies program, designed to reduce smoking among pregnant Medicaid recipients. She also is a research associate with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Smoke-Free Families National Dissemination Office, located at UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Pevzner, from Detroit, is pursuing a doctorate in the department of health behavior and health education, with a minor in epidemiology. He is a research assistant for the N.C. Youth Empowerment Study, where he leads a study assessing compliance with 100 percent tobacco-free school policies. Pevzner also works with the UNC Survey Research Unit examining issues related to youth tobacco and serves as a consultant for the Epidemiology Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health.

Jamison, from Cape Coral, Fla., is a master of public health degree candidate in the department of health behavior and health education. She studies the political contexts and processes in the six N.C. school districts that proposed, but did not pass, 100 percent tobacco-free school policies, to identify critical factors that can aid local advocates in passing such measures. Jamison also has worked for N.C. Prevention Partners, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventive health, where she was instrumental in establishing a state tobacco policy advocacy coalition.

Yam, from Princeton, N.J., is pursuing a master of public health degree in the department of maternal and child health. She is researching the residential smoking policies at 12 N.C. universities to determine the extent to which they comply with American College Health Association recommendations on tobacco use. Her research includes an analysis of the tobacco industry’s historical efforts to monitor and influence campus smoking policies. She also works for N.C. Prevention Partners, where she participated in advocacy efforts supporting a state cigarette tax increase.

The Association of Schools of Public Health is a national organization representing the deans, faculty and students of the 32 accredited member schools of public health and other programs seeking accreditation.

The American Legacy Foundation is the national, independent public health foundation established by the 1998 tobacco settlement. The foundation is dedicated to reducing U.S. tobacco use with major initiatives reaching youth, women and other populations.

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Note: Ribisl can be reached at (919) 843-8042 or kribisl@sph.unc.edu. Jackson can be reached at (919) 966-7546 or jackso12@email.unc.edu.

UNC School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu
UNC News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415