Nation’s top tobacco watchdog to speak

Nation’s top tobacco watchdog to speak

03/21/2023 

Brian King, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), will discuss the center’s efforts to implement tobacco regulations and future challenges on Tuesday, April 4, at SUNY Cortland.

King, the lead author of the Center for Disease Control’s 2014 guide to best practices for comprehensive tobacco control programs, will present “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Tobacco Product Regulation: Promise and Peril in an Increasingly Complex Landscape” at 5 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the university’s Health Department as its 15th Charles N. Poskanzer Lecture, the discussion will be live streamed.

Brian_King_PhD_tobacco_WEB.gif
Brian King

King, who was appointed to his current position last July, is responsible for assuring that the CTP accomplishes its public health goals and for implementing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the FDA the power to regulate the tobacco industry.

He builds on the federal government’s past success with reducing tobacco use. In the past 55 years, U.S. adult cigarette smoking has declined considerably, recorded at 12.5% in 2020.

“In the 13 years since the landmark Tobacco Control Act was signed into law, CTP has done significant work to effectively regulate a complex and rapidly changing tobacco product landscape,” King said.

“We also have a tremendous opportunity to create meaningful change for populations that have been disproportionately affected by tobacco use,” he said. “The FDA is uniquely positioned to address tobacco-related health disparities in several impactful ways, now and in the coming years, so that tobacco-related disease and death are a part of America’s past, not America’s future, for all populations.”

The SUNY Cortland campus has been tobacco and nicotine free for the last decade and was one of the first SUNY campuses to prohibit use of the substances.

Tobacco_Free_10_Year_Anniversary_WEB.gif
On March 3, campus community members gathered to celebrate SUNY Cortland's 10 years of tobacco-free policy.

King has worked for nearly two decades to provide sound scientific evidence to inform tobacco control policy and to effectively communicate this information to key stakeholders, including decision makers, the news media and the public.

Prior to joining the FDA, he served as the deputy director for research translation in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, and more recently as the executive editor of CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report Series. He is the author of more than 200 scientific journal articles related to tobacco prevention and control and served as senior associate editor for multiple U.S. Surgeon General’s Reports on tobacco.

 He holds a Ph.D. and M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University at Buffalo.

The event is supported by the Charles N. Poskanzer Fund, an endowment named in honor of the late SUNY Distinguished Service Professor emeritus who taught in the university’s Health Department for 40 years and died in 2010. Established through the Cortland College Foundation, the annual lecture brings national leaders in public and community health to campus to meet with students and faculty and to deliver a public lecture on a current public health issue.

For more information, contact Maggie Divita, SUNY Cortland professor of health and graduate coordinator, at 607-753-2987.

Graphic image courtesy of Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay


More News

Students determine fate of European nations. Sort of.

Students determine fate of European nations. Sort of.

SUNY Cortland students gained diplomatic skills in Belgium during a Model European Union project.


Crime does pay for mystery author

Crime does pay for mystery author

Former voice of Red Dragon football Dan Padavona ’91 now pens thrillers.


Cortland professional named to statewide civic engagement initiative

Cortland professional named to statewide civic engagement initiative

John Suarez is one of 10 academics across the SUNY system selected to deepen the role of civil discourse and civic engagement in campus culture.


SUNY Cortland extends admission deadline

SUNY Cortland extends admission deadline

Accepted students now have until June 1 to pay their deposit for the fall semester.


Campus plans Women’s History Month series

Campus plans Women’s History Month series

SUNY Cortland will celebrate Women’s History Month with several events during March.


Cortland to Host Elmira in NCAA Women's Hockey First Round Wednesday

Cortland to Host Elmira in NCAA Women's Hockey First Round Wednesday

The Cortland women's hockey team will host Elmira College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III tournament Wednesday, March 6.


Cortland men's hockey to play in NCAA first round Saturday

Cortland men's hockey to play in NCAA first round Saturday

Cortland to travel to Plymouth State University in New Hampshire for NCAA men's hockey first round on Saturday.


SUNY Cortland restarting male mentorship program

SUNY Cortland restarting male mentorship program

Senior James Escolastico is giving underrepresented students access to brotherhood.


Lieutenant Governor talks service with students

Lieutenant Governor talks service with students

Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado visited SUNY Cortland to gain student input for a new statewide initiative.


SUNY Cortland’s ESPN highlight gets assist from alum

SUNY Cortland’s ESPN highlight gets assist from alum

Rob Galm ’17 shines a national spotlight on his alma mater in his work as a content producer at ESPN.