Mission

The Center for Global Tobacco Control aims to foster collaboration—at Harvard and globally—to address issues of tobacco use and control through innovative research, training, and translation of science into public health policies and programs.

History

Established in July 2010, the Center replaced the former Tobacco Control Research Program in the Division of Public Health Practice. Since 2004, we have brought together a highly-trained research staff to advance a robust agenda of funded research projects in tobacco control. Dr. Vaughan Rees took over leadership of the Center in 2014 and has positioned the Center to play a critical role in evaluating current tobacco control interventions and developing new interventions for the 21st Century.

Training

The Center is housed within the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). Through SBS, we offer the following educational programs:

  • Formal masters of science degrees (ScM), masters of public health degrees (MPH), and doctoral degrees in public health (ScD/PhD). Students take a full range of courses in public health.
  • Through the Center, we also provide opportunities for practica, internships and paid employment in many research projects.
  • The Center currently offers the following courses.
  • The Center offers post-doctoral fellowship training in tobacco control.

Knowledge Translation and Global Collaboration

The Center collaborates with local municipalities, US states, federal agencies, and foreign governments to develop, implement, and evaluate tobacco control policies and programs through intensive, joint training, research, and policy and program development. We actively work with the governments to implement the recommendations of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), many of whose measures for public education, clean air policies, taxation, mass media campaigns, and monitoring and surveillance are based on the Massachusetts Program. We bring our practical experience and theoretical knowledge of tobacco control in our work with international partners.

We believe that the tobacco control landscape for the 21st Century is rapidly changing with the adoption of the FCTC, the globalization of the industry, and the regulation of tobacco products. As an academic center, we are committed to providing the evidence-based research needed to prevent an estimated one billion deaths from tobacco use in this century.