The Tobacco Control Act gives the Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco regulation, yet relatively little is yet known about the impact of this regulation pertaining to new emerging tobacco products, or its impact on diverse, vulnerable populations. To keep pace with rapid changes that are expected to occur in both tobacco product introduction and regulation requires a mechanism to promote multiple, creative, small-scale studies that can be implemented relatively quickly. The USC TCORS Pilot Projects Program Core (PC) serves as this mechanism.
The aims are: I.To expand the research questions that are addressed in the three proposed research studies;2. To fund proof of concept studies in innovative areas such as real- time assessment of retailer impact on tobacco consumer behavior;3. To fund rapid response studies as changes occur such as the California tobacco regulatory campaign aimed at retailers, which is expected in 2014;4. To support collaborative studies across TCORSs and across cores;and 5. To encourage regulatory science trainees who are in the Research and Training Core to develop pilot projects that can be used as preliminary studies for later proposal submissions to NIH and similar agencies. The Methods Core will provide measurement and analytical support for the PC;the Population Core will provide participants or recruit new participants for the PC. The PC will also interact with the three main research projects within the USC TCORS through the Administrative Core, particularly for pilot studies that address Aim 1. The PC will follow a six-stage review and operations process that follows NIH guidelines and is designed to generate rapid dissemination of methods and results that c^n inform future tobacco regulatory practices. The stages include: 1. Encouraging applications from a wide range of investigators and from a range of inputs;2. Funding a portfolio of pilot studies that represent a balance of different types of studies (Aims 1-4);3. Review and funding;4. Assistance with expedited IRB processing;5. Implementation;and 6. Dissemination of findings within and across TCORSs. A total of 16 studies is expected, followed by NIH grant applications.

Public Health Relevance

The Pilot Programs Core addresses the requirement outlined by the P50 announcement for TCORSs. Its relevance lies in advancing tobacco regulatory science as a discipline, generating new studies and hypotheses for regulatory science, and ultimately, informing strategies to maximize the impact of tobacco regulation-both existing and changing-on tobacco control among diverse populations that are considered vulnerable to tobacco use and addiction.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Specialized Center (P50)
Project #
1P50CA180905-01
Application #
8595440
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-Q (40))
Project Start
2013-09-19
Project End
2018-08-31
Budget Start
2013-09-19
Budget End
2014-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$193,441
Indirect Cost
$75,435
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Type
DUNS #
072933393
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Urman, Robert; McConnell, Rob; Unger, Jennifer B et al. (2018) Electronic Cigarette and Cigarette Social Environments and Ever Use of Each Product: A Prospective Study of Young Adults in Southern California. Nicotine Tob Res :
Barrington-Trimis, Jessica L; Kong, Grace; Leventhal, Adam M et al. (2018) E-cigarette Use and Subsequent Smoking Frequency Among Adolescents. Pediatrics 142:
Majmundar, Anuja; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Boley Cruz, Tess et al. (2018) The Why We Retweet scale. PLoS One 13:e0206076
Smiley, Sabrina L; Soto, Claradina; Cruz, Tess Boley et al. (2018) Point-of-sale marketing of little cigars and cigarillos on and near California Tribal lands. Tob Control :
Ayers, John W; Dredze, Mark; Leas, Eric C et al. (2018) Next generation media monitoring: Global coverage of electronic nicotine delivery systems (electronic cigarettes) on Bing, Google and Twitter, 2013-2018. PLoS One 13:e0205822
Allem, Jon-Patrick; Dharmapuri, Likhit; Leventhal, Adam M et al. (2018) Hookah-Related Posts to Twitter From 2017 to 2018: Thematic Analysis. J Med Internet Res 20:e11669
Unger, Jennifer B; Urman, Robert; Cruz, Tess Boley et al. (2018) Talking about tobacco on Twitter is associated with tobacco product use. Prev Med 114:54-56
Chu, Kar-Hai; Colditz, Jason B; Primack, Brian A et al. (2018) JUUL: Spreading Online and Offline. J Adolesc Health 63:582-586
Escobedo, Patricia; Cruz, Tess Boley; Tsai, Kai-Ya et al. (2018) Monitoring Tobacco Brand Websites to Understand Marketing Strategies Aimed at Tobacco Product Users and Potential Users. Nicotine Tob Res 20:1393-1400
Allem, Jon-Patrick; Ferrara, Emilio (2018) Could Social Bots Pose a Threat to Public Health? Am J Public Health 108:1005-1006

Showing the most recent 10 out of 93 publications