Mark Hawes, PhD, MSSW

Mark Hawes, MSW, PhD, is a licensed clinical social worker and a postdoctoral fellow at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (CTCRE) and the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. His research focuses on tobacco- and substance use-related health disparities among people with behavioral health conditions and those experiencing homelessness or living in permanent supportive housing (PSH).

His work applies community-engaged and implementation science approaches to improve access to smoking cessation and substance use treatment. He is particularly interested in peer- and place-based interventions, the impact of the built environment on health disparities, and integrating tobacco and substance use treatment into housing and healthcare systems.

Dr. Hawes has experience conducting qualitative and mixed-methods research on smoke-free home adoption, built environment influences on tobacco use, and opportunities to expand tobacco treatment for people experiencing homelessness. He aims to develop interventions that address both individual and structural barriers to tobacco and substance use treatment.

He earned his PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was a T32 predoctoral fellow at the Center for Mental Health Services Research. His long-term goal is to advance research and policy that reduce tobacco-related health inequities among people with behavioral health conditions who have high rates of co-occurring tobacco use.