The health care system is a key channel for delivering interventions to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. A hospital stay provides a unique opportunity to deliver a smoking cessation intervention. The candidate's current K24 project focuses on smokers hospitalized with acute coronary heart disease (CHD). It tests the safety and efficacy of bupropion (Zyban) for smoking cessation in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 248 hospitalized smokers with acute CHD. Outcome (biochemically-verified nonsmoking) was measured at end of treatment (3 months) and 1 year. During the K24 award, the candidate's research focus expanded from inpatients with CHD to encompass smoking interventions for outpatients with a broader range of health conditions. Working with mentees, she secured funding to develop interventions for smokers in prenatal, postpartum, pediatric, and primary care settings. For the K24 renewal, she aims to build on these ongoing projects to develop additional funded research that tests and implements innovative smoking cessation interventions in inpatient and outpatient settings. In the inpatient setting, she aims to conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the safety and efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy for .smokers hospitalized with acute CHD and to conduct an effectiveness trial of a comprehensive counseling intervention for all hospitalized smokers. In the outpatient setting, she proposes a pilot trial to test bupropion for post parturn women who smoke. During the current award, the candidate trained 17 mentees who amassed an impressive record of publication and funding. She demonstrated the ability to attract and guide trainees from diverse clinical backgrounds, to retain female investigators in patient-oriented research during child-bearing years, and to mentor junior faculty at outside institutions that lacked senior faculty with her expertise. The broad range of the candidate's research program offers valuable training opportunities to future mentees.
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