Cassandra Stanton Directs Special Issue: Respiratory Disease and Nicotine/Tobacco Use

Critical health events, such as the SARS CoV-2 pandemic and e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), highlight the importance of examining how tobacco and nicotine products may influence and interact with respiratory health.

Cassandra Stanton, Ph.D., a Westat senior epidemiologist in our Tobacco Studies Sector, served as guest editor of a new issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research (NTR): Respiratory Disease and Nicotine/Tobacco Use. The 13-article special issue focuses on associations between respiratory health outcomes and nicotine and tobacco use. Dr. Stanton partnered with Robert Tarran, Ph.D., (University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill) and Robin Mermelstein, Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Chicago) in developing this issue.

“Through support from CASEL (Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics—a cooperative agreement between Westat, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse), we worked with national research groups to rapidly disseminate the latest scientific findings on respiratory disease associations with cigarette and non-cigarette use to advance what is known about the effect of tobacco and nicotine from the cellular level to patterns of use and respiratory symptomology at the population level. This issue is very timely and will be a valuable resource for clinicians and national policymakers during this unprecedented time,” notes Dr. Stanton.

In addition to serving as Guest Editor of the special issue and Associate Editor of the NTR, Dr. Stanton is the lead author of the issue’s preamble editorial.