Our Team
Pamela Ling, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Dr. Ling studies tobacco industry marketing strategies targeting young adults, women, and other high risk population, and new smokeless and novel tobacco product marketing strategies. She also studies how to use tobacco industry marketing strategies to improve tobacco control programs. Pamela Ling is Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, where she conducts research on tobacco, media, and social marketing to young people. Her work includes analyses of thousands of previously secret tobacco industry documents detailing marketing strategies targeting young adults, and translating the lessons learned to improve tobacco control efforts. Dr. Ling has special interest in young adult smoking patterns and counter-engineering tobacco industry marketing, the global proliferation of U.S. tobacco marketing strategies, marketing to women, smokeless and novel tobacco marketing including e-cigarettes, and using market research to guide clinical and public health interventions. Dr. Ling’s clinical work is in general internal medicine; she has special interest in caring for underserved urban populations.
Dorie Apollonio, PhD, MPP
Fellowship Co-Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Dr. Dorie Apollonio is a Professor of health policy in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco focusing on tobacco control and policy making. Her research considers the role of scientific evidence and interest group lobbying in decision making on public health. This work uses multiple data sources including internal industry documents, campaign finance reports, administrative datasets, and interviews, and relies on both qualitative and quantitative methods to identify how policy affecting public health is made. She is trained as a quantitative methodologist and survey researcher and has extensive experience in research design and analysis. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals in multiple fields, including public health, political science, policy, and law.
Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, MAS
Fellowship Co-Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Dr. Maya Vijayaraghavan's research focuses on tobacco use in vulnerable populations, with a particular emphasis on interventions with the homeless population. Her population-based research includes the analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data, including the analysis of national data, to examine the use of novel tobacco products and the efficacy of tobacco control policies on reducing tobacco use in low-income populations.
As PI of an exploratory/developmental grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, Dr. Vijayaraghavan developed and pilot tested the feasibility of a capacity building intervention to improve homeless shelters' capacity to facilitate smoking cessation among homeless adults. Her current research includes the epidemiological analysis of tobacco use and the development and evaluation of interventions to reduce tobacco use among vulnerable populations.
Stella Bialous, RN, DrPH, FAAN
Associate Director for Global Tobacco Control Initiatives
Dr. Stella Bialous’ research focuses on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, tobacco industry monitoring and building nurses’ capacity for tobacco control nationally and internationally. Dr. Bialous has consulted with the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Free Initiative for over 15 years. In 2003, she received the American Legacy Foundation’s Sybill G. Jacobson Adult Award for Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Document. In 2012, she received the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care Distinguished Merit Award and is currently the Society’s President.
Jonathan Leff, MLIS
Administrative Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Kathleen Franklin
Fellowship Program Coordinator, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Stephanie Koenig, MPH
Communications Specialist, Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
Stephanie Koenig is the Communications Specialist for the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. She is responsible for developing and implementing communication strategies and projects to effectively convey CTCRE's messages to its target audiences. In addition, she serves as the Communications Specialist for UCSF's Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.
Prior to CTCRE, Stephanie was a scientific communicator for organizations spanning across the biotechnology, non profit, and healthcare sectors. She is passionate about the intersection of health and communications, finding particular satisfaction in translating complex science into accessible narratives that empower individuals to make informed decisions about their well-being.
Stephanie received her Master's Degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley.
Nell Layno
Operations Analyst
Nell Layno is the Operations Analyst at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, supporting essential functions across IT, administration, accounting, and facilities to keep daily activities running smoothly. Previously, he served as a Junior Finance Analyst, where he managed research budgets and financial operations while also supporting faculty and research initiatives within the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Nell brings a dependable, detail-driven approach to academic operations and research support.
Nell earned his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from the University of San Francisco.