The Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education’s annual symposium, It’s About a Billion Lives, will take place on Friday April 11th, 2025. Co-hosted by the UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, this in-person event will be held at the Robertson Auditorium at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.
This year we’re excited to expand our symposium into a full-day format, packed with an extended lineup of speakers, posters, research, and a special afternoon session dedicated to the history of the tobacco industry documents archives. Join us for this enhanced experience designed to deepen our understanding of and impact on efforts to end the tobacco epidemic.
Up to four hours of FREE credit can be earned for a limited number of participants who join the LIVE morning session on Friday, April 11, 2025. You will receive instructions on how to claim credit via the post webinar email.
Keynote Presentations: Menthol tobacco products, and the need for action by the FDA
- Robert N. Proctor, PhD, Professor of History and Medicine, Stanford University
- Yolonda C. Richardson, JD, MPH President and CEO, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
- Valerie Yerger, ND, Professor, UCSF Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Presentations by UCSF Tobacco Control postdoctoral scholars and researchers
- Leila Mohammadi, PhD, Assistant Professional Researcher, UCSF
- Sabrina Islam, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Poster session on research on tobacco and related substances
Archives and Why They Matter
- Polina Ilieva, Associate University Librarian for Collections-Archivist, UCSF Library
The Department of Justice Case against the Tobacco Industry
- Sharon Eubanks, Former Director, U.S. Department of Justice Tobacco Litigation Team
- Ruth Malone, RN, PhD, Professor, UCSF Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Whoever controls the media controls the mind: Media, Marketing and Tobacco Archives
- Robert K. Jackler, MD, Professor Emeritus, Otolaryngology, Stanford Health
- Peter Kovacs, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Can AI analyze the documents for you? New Methods in Archival Research and Publishing
- Geoffrey Boushey, MS, Head of Engineering, UCSF Library
- Sean Purcell, Digital Health Humanities Program Coordinator, UCSF Library
The Opioid Epidemic, Oral History, and Why Stories Matter
- Amy C. Sullivan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Macalester College
Community Archives – Whose Story is told? Who Tells your Story?
- Braunz Courtney, HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County (HEPPAC)
- Britt Creech, Vanguard Lab, a project of the San Francisco Drug Users Union
- Ivy Jean, Vanguard Lab, a project of the San Francisco Drug Users Union
- Mary Howe, Homeless Youth Alliance (HYA), San Francisco (HYA)
Why History Matters
- Brian Dolan, PhD, Professor, UCSF Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Watch the 2024 symposium and past years’ symposia.