Ellen R. Gritz | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | Barnard College University of California, San Diego |
Medical career | |
Field | Behavioral Sciences |
Institutions | UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
Ellen R. Gritz (born April 9, 1944) is an American psychologist and cancer researcher. She is Professor and Chair Emerita of the Department of Behavioral Science and Olla S. Stribling Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. [1]
Gritz was born on April 9, 1944, in Washington Heights, Manhattan. She attended Bronx High School of Science and received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1964. [2] [3] After graduating from Barnard, she worked as a research assistant at Bell Labs. She then earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, where her dissertation focused on memory mechanisms of animals. Her research has focused on the study of cigarette smoking behavior, [4] smoking cessation, [5] as well as the role of psychology in the prevention and treatment of cancer. [6] [7]
Gritz was a professor at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center before moving to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1993 and held the founding Chair of the Department of Behavioral Science for 21 years until her retirement in 2014. [8]
In 2007, Gritz was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine. [1] She was a president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2006-2007, and president of the American Society of Preventive Oncology in 1993-1995. [9] [10]
Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used for smoking cessation to relieve withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine acts as a receptor agonist at most nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), except at two nicotinic receptor subunits where it acts as a receptor antagonist.
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or an herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.
Smoking cessation, usually called quitting smoking or stopping smoking, is the process of discontinuing tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, which is addictive and can cause dependence. As a result, nicotine withdrawal often makes the process of quitting difficult.
Nicotine gum is a chewing gum containing the active ingredient nicotine polacrilex. It is a type of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) used alone or in combination with other pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation and for quitting smokeless tobacco.
Tobacco products, especially when smoked or used orally, have negative effects on human health, and concerns about these effects have existed for a long time. Research has focused primarily on cigarette smoking.
A cigarette filter, also known as a filter tip, is a component of a cigarette, along with cigarette paper, capsules and adhesives. Filters were introduced in the early 1950s.
Varenicline is a medication used for smoking cessation. Varenicline is also used for the treatment of dry eye disease.
Nicotine withdrawal is a group of symptoms that occur in the first few weeks after stopping or decreasing use of nicotine. Symptoms include intense cravings for nicotine, anger or irritability, anxiety, depression, impatience, trouble sleeping, restlessness, hunger or weight gain, and difficulty concentrating. Withdrawal symptoms make it harder to quit nicotine products, and most methods for quitting smoking involve reducing nicotine withdrawal. Quit smoking programs can make it easier to quit. Nicotine withdrawal is recognized in both the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the WHO International Classification of Diseases.
Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is a public health strategy to lower the health risks to individuals and wider society associated with using tobacco products. It is an example of the concept of harm reduction, a strategy for dealing with the use of drugs. Tobacco smoking is widely acknowledged as a leading cause of illness and death, and reducing smoking is vital to public health.
An electronic cigarette is an electronic device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such, using an e-cigarette is often called "vaping". The atomizer is a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution called e-liquid, which quickly cools into an aerosol of tiny droplets, vapor and air. E-cigarettes are activated by taking a puff or pressing a button. Some look like traditional cigarettes, and most kinds are reusable. The vapor mainly comprises propylene glycol and/or glycerin, usually with nicotine and flavoring. Its exact composition varies, and depends on several things including user behavior.
Nicotine Anonymous (NicA) is a twelve-step program founded in 1982 for people desiring to quit smoking and live free of nicotine. As of July 2017, there are over 700 face-to-face meetings in 32 countries worldwide with the majority of these meetings occurring in the United States, Iran, India, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia and in various online community and social media platforms.. NicA maintains that total abstinence from nicotine is necessary for recovery. NicA defines abstinence as “a state that begins when all use of nicotine ceases.
Elbert D. Glover is an American researcher and author in the field of tobacco addiction and smoking cessation. After several academic positions he retired as a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland at College Park School of Public Health where he served as chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health from 2005 to his retirement in 2015. Moreover, he was entrepreneur, editor, publisher and co-founder and principal owner of Health Behavior and Policy Review and co-founder, owner, editor, and publisher of American Journal of Health Behavior and Tobacco Regulatory Science. Glover was the founder of the American Academy of Health Behavior and served as its first president from 1997 to 2001.
Joseph W. Cullen was an American cancer prevention and rehabilitation researcher and briefly director of the AMC Cancer Research Center (1989-1990). He previously worked at the VA Hospital in Maryland (1968-1973), the National Institutes of Health (1973), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (1976-1982), holding high-level positions such as division director at several. He was a coordinator, creator, and researcher for the Smoking Tobacco and Cancer Program at the NCI, the largest anti-smoking campaign in the world at that time. Cullen wrote more than 90 publications in his lifetime, including four books.
Ovide F. Pomerleau is an American psychologist who pioneered the development of behavioral medicine. He is best known for his work on self-management problems and addiction, focusing on the behavioral, biological, and genetic bases of tobacco smoking and nicotine dependence.
The scientific community in United States and Europe are primarily concerned with the possible effect of electronic cigarette use on public health. There is concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes could renormalize smoking, weaken measures to control tobacco, and serve as a gateway for smoking among youth. The public health community is divided over whether to support e-cigarettes, because their safety and efficacy for quitting smoking is unclear. Many in the public health community acknowledge the potential for their quitting smoking and decreasing harm benefits, but there remains a concern over their long-term safety and potential for a new era of users to get addicted to nicotine and then tobacco. There is concern among tobacco control academics and advocates that prevalent universal vaping "will bring its own distinct but as yet unknown health risks in the same way tobacco smoking did, as a result of chronic exposure", among other things.
Carolyn M. Mazure is an American psychologist and the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale School of Medicine. She created and directs Women’s Health Research at Yale — Yale’s interdisciplinary research center on health and gender.
Jed Eugene Rose, Ph.D. is an American academic professor, inventor and researcher in the field of nicotine and smoking cessation. Rose is presently the President and CEO of the Rose Research Center, LLC in Raleigh, North Carolina. Additionally, he is the Director of the Duke Center for Smoking Cessation at Duke University Medical Center.
Susan J. Curry is an American health management and policy scholar. She retired from the University of Iowa in 2020 and is currently emerita dean and distinguished professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. She served as Interim Executive Vice President and Provost at University of Iowa from 2017 to 2019.
The American Society of Preventive Oncology is a multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to cancer prevention and control research. It was established in 1976. The society contributes 48 pages per year to the Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention published by the American Association for Cancer Research.
Linda Sarna is an American nursing researcher and academic. She is dean, professor and Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Chair of the UCLA School of Nursing. Sarna was appointed the school's seventh dean Nov. 15, 2016,. after serving as acting dean (2014-2015) and interim dean (2015-2016).