Housed within the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Center is comprised of Harvard Chan faculty and partners from national and international organizations and universities such as the National Cancer Institute, University of Pretoria, and University of Tel Aviv, as well as various other Harvard schools. Using the practical experience and knowledge it develops through research, the Center then collaborates with local municipalities, U.S. states, federal agencies, and foreign governments to offer training on tobacco control and develop, implement, and evaluate tobacco control policies and programs.

The Center’s projects focus on a broad array of topics in the fields of tobacco regulation, product design and messaging, intervention evaluation, and more. Past and ongoing activities include:

• Evaluations of interventions to promote smoke-free homes for children
• Research on the influence of cigarette brand characteristics and design features
• Monitoring of indoor air quality and secondhand smoke 
• Lab study on the impact of emotion in public service announcements

The Center’s emphasis on education and training extends not only to governments, but also to the next generation of global tobacco control researchers and practitioners. The Center offers post-doctoral fellowship training in tobacco control to early career researchers and opportunities for practica, internships, and paid employment in research projects to Harvard Chan School students. Additionally, Center affiliates teach courses on substance use and high-risk behaviors in public health.

Rees, V. W., & Connolly, G. N. (2006). Measuring air quality to protect children from secondhand smoke in Cars. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(5), 363–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2006.07.021

Seidenberg, A. B., Caughey, R. W., Rees, V. W., & Connolly, G. N. (2010). Storefront cigarette advertising differs by community demographic profile. American Journal of Health Promotion, 24(6). https://doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.090618-quan-196

Song, M.-A., Benowitz, N. L., Berman, M., Brasky, T. M., Cummings, K. M., Hatsukami, D. K., Marian, C., O’Connor, R., Rees, V. W., Woroszylo, C., & Shields, P. G. (2017). Cigarette filter ventilation and its relationship to increasing rates of lung adenocarcinoma. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 109(12). https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx075

Dorison, C. A., Wang, K., Rees, V. W., Kawachi, I., Ericson, K. M. M., & Lerner, J. S. (2019). Sadness, but not all negative emotions, heightens addictive substance use. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(2), 943–949. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1909888116