September 2, 2025
CTCRE Fellow Vuong Do, PhD is the lead author on a recently published article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The study used a smartphone app to check in with young adults several times a day—over 9,000 moments recorded in total—to see what triggered them to vape nicotine, cannabis, or both substances (same-occasion co-vaping). The study found that cravings and alcohol use strongly predicted vaping, whether it was nicotine, cannabis, or co-vaping. Seeing tobacco advertisements also made people more likely to either vape nicotine or co-vape, while seeing cannabis products was also associated with cannabis vaping and co-vaping.
Researchers hope that pinpointing real-time events that precede nicotine vaping, cannabis vaping, or co-vaping, can help in the development of youth cessation treatments.
This study was co-authored by CTCRE Director Pamela Ling, MD, MPH and CTCRE Faculty Nhung Nguyen, PhD, PharmD.
August 19, 2025
Several people have asked us to collect all the public comments that we have submitted to the FDA. We have also added comments submitted to other agencies on tobacco issues. We will update this posting as new comments are submitted. This post is current as of August 19, 2025.
August 2025: The National Youth Tobacco Survey and Proposed Emergency Regulations Implementing Assembly Bill 3218
November 2024: FDA and NIH Prioritization
May 28, 2025
Pharmaceutical companies have worked hard to protect their reputation by shifting blame for the opioid crisis away from themselves and onto individual patients. In the new article, “The Rise of Clinical Decision Support Algorithms in Pain Management, 2009–2024,” published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, CTCRE Fellow Dan Kabella, PhD looks at how digital tools like NarxCare play a key role in this.
NarxCare is a tool used in healthcare to predict the risks of opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose and to guide doctors’ decisions. These tools often put the focus on patients’ behavior instead of problems like aggressive marketing with the pharmaceutical companies. Using internal documents and public information, their research shows how these companies have pushed tools like NarxCare as proof they are managing the crisis. Instead of making real changes, these tools allow the opioid industry to define “legitimate” opioid use through careful prescribing and monitoring, while leaving the system that protects industry interests intact.
This article was co-aithored by CTCRE Fellowship Co-Director Dorie Apollonio, PhD, MPP, UCSF Professor Kelly Knight, PhD, and doctoral student Halle Young.
March 27, 2025
A recent publication by CTCRE fellow Allison Temourian, PhD, has been selected as the cover story for the March 2025 issue of Urban Science. Her paper, Citizen Science to Collect Tobacco Waste: Exploring the Usability of Two Protocols, evaluates the feasibility of two tobacco product waste protocols using a community-based approach. The study highlights the impact of adaptable methodologies that not only engage the public in meaningful scientific participation, but also empower local communities. This collaborative approach also serves as a model for integrating public participation.
Explore the full publication here.
2024 Surgeon General's Report- Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities
November 26, 2024
On November 19th 2024, the Surgeon General released a new report titled Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities, the 35th tobacco-related Surgeon General’s Report published since 1964. Pamela Ling, MD, MPH, Director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, MAS, Fellowship Co-Director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, were contributing authors on this report.
Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities assesses health disparities related to tobacco use. While the US has made progress in reducing tobacco use in the overall population, advancements have not been equally distributed across all US population groups.
Disparities in commercial tobacco product use, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, exposure to marketing of tobacco products and smoking-related health outcomes persist by race and ethnicity, level of income, level of education, sexual orientation, gender identity, type of occupation, geography, and behavioral health status.
The full report can be read online here.