Gregory N. Connolly is the Director for the Center for Global Tobacco Control and Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard School of Public Health. He is also a Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor awarded by the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute (FAMRI). He conducts basic and applied research on tobacco products with a focus on the contribution to dependence and abuse liability. His research interests lie in establishing a science base for tobacco product regulation. He currently is the principal investigator on two grants in this area. Also, he directs research projects in a number of foreign countries and at the international level to establish local science needed for the adoption of effective tobacco control policies and programs and evaluating their impact on population health. He is the principal investigator on one grant in this area. Finally, he conducts and directs research on the dangers of secondhand smoke, mechanistic links between exposure and disease and measures to control secondhand smoke. He is the principal investigator on one grant in this area.

Major responsibilities include: Principal investigator on MassCONECT 4 Kids (Funded by NCMHD), Co-investigator on grants from NCI, FAMRI, Co-instructor for course entitled Approaches to International Tobacco Control.

Research focuses on assessment of the influence of product design and marketing on smoker behavior and sensory perceptions. This work is used to inform tobacco control policy, develop resources for communicating risks of tobacco products, and to enhance understanding of factors that contribute to tobacco dependence. He also leads work on a community-based intervention to reduce secondhand smoke exposure among young children, to reduce health disparities among underserved communities.

Major responsibilities include: Coordination of the “HEART” project (Hellenic Action for Research Against Tobacco) a project aimed to apply gold standard tobacco control measures within the Hellenic Region as a means of protecting public health from the ramifications of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Moreover the majority of his research is focused on secondhand smoke exposure, assessment, prevention and health effects, with a special focus on childhood and pregnancy.

Dr Vardavas is also the co-PI of the “FETAL” study (funded by FAMRI), and has participated actively in a number of European FP7 projects, including the ENRIECO project in which he leads the working group on secondhand smoke and wheezing, a pooled analysis of 20 European birth cohort studies.

Major research interests include: secondhand smoke exposure and its biological and health effects, surveillance of the tobacco market including product design and patterns of use in populations, and applied policy research for tobacco product regulation and international tobacco control.

Major responsibilities include: strategic management of the Center’s tobacco control projects in Europe and the Middle East.  Also leads strategic planning for funding, development of collaborative relationships and research support activities.

Major responsibilities include: direction of the MassCONECT 4 Kids Promoting Smoke Free Homes Study, a multi-site randomized trial evaluating the effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing (MI), compared with usual best practices (UBP), in helping parents to make their home smoke free and reduce children’s exposure to SHS. She is primarily responsible for developing the study procedures, managing the community health workers in the three participating cities and convening the community partners and community advisory group. Ms. Keske brings her experience and passion for utilizing community based participatory research strategies to address health disparities to her work with the Center for Global Tobacco Control.

Current research focus: Assessing the impact of tobacco product design on initiation, dependence and population use, through investigation of internal tobacco industry documents and other secondary data sources.  Research interests include: drug use and addiction, mental health, health disparities and media advocacy.

Major responsibilities include: management of all aspects of sponsored research and departmental administration for the Center for Global Tobacco Control, Program for Community Research, and LAMPS.

Major responsibilities include:  pre—and post-award management for all of the sponsored programs under Center for Global Tobacco Control, Program for Community Research, and LAMPS.

Major responsibilities include: coordination of accounts payable, reimbursements, and local operations for the Center for Global Tobacco Control, Program for Community Research, and LAMPS.