FEB/MAR 2008
Volume 14 - No. 1
Book Review: The Cigarette Century
Book Review: The Science of Real-Time Data Capture
Book Review: Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control: Making Smoking History
Research Activities at a Featured Program: Twin and Family Research
Nicotine Research Grant Funding Update
Newsletter Staff
Karen Cropsey
Editor
kcropsey@beapsy1.
his.uab.edu
Minden Shadle-Sexton
Assistant Editor
Ryan Sexton
Assistant Editor
Publication & Communications
Ed Lichtenstein
Chair
ed@ori.org
Electronic Communications
Judith Gordon
Chair
judith@ori.org
SRNT Newsletter
February/March 2008, Volume 14, Number 1
From the Editor
Dear Colleagues,
As many of you will just be returning from the annual SRNT conference by the time this newsletter reaches you, I hope everyone enjoyed the conference as well as Portland. The conference featured excellent speakers and sessions and was highest attended SRNT conference to date! Congratulations to the SRNT Program Committee for an outstanding meeting and if you missed the meeting, you can read the highlights as the featured article in the newsletter. During this issue, we say goodbye to Ray Niaura as our outgoing President and thank him for his leadership. Be sure to read the President’s column in which Ray reflects on the triumphs and challenges that continues to face our organization. In the next issue we welcome our new President, Scott Leischow.
In this issue, we have an article about the Global Network Committee (GNC). The GNC has been instrumental in connecting researchers and clinicians across the world in increasing awareness and involvement of other nations in the common cause of tobacco control and research. This has been done primarily through sponsoring pre-conference meetings before the annual SRNT meeting, as well as sponsoring regional meetings outside of the United States. Most recently, the SRNT Latin American meeting was held in Brazil. Please read his article to learn more about upcoming SRNT regional meetings in Thailand, Africa, and India and how you can be more involved in these global efforts.
We have several reviews of recently published books relevant to tobacco clinicians and researchers. The Cigarette Century by Allan Brandt details the history of cigarettes in American culture and the impact of that smoking has made across the world. The Science of Real Time Data Capture by Stone, Shiffman, Atienza, and Nebeling discusses the use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and may be of particular interest to researchers looking to incorporate this strategy of data capture. Finally, Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control: Making Smoking History by Simon Chapman outlines strategies of tobacco control from a public health perspective.
Finally, in this issue we have an article about the exciting research being conducted by our colleagues Jaakko Kaprio and Markku Koskenvuo in Finland examining the genetics of smoking and nicotine dependence. We also have a listing of the funding opportunities available to support smoking research by the TANRIG committee, as well as a recent announcement by Pfizer for investigator initiated tobacco funding. As always, we highlight member publications, position vacancies, and upcoming training opportunities and conferences.
I want to congratulate several of our SRNT members who have received new positions and awards. Tom Brandon was recently elected President of APA Division 50 (Addiction) and I encourage everyone to read his article in which he outlines his vision of strengthening communication and collaboration between SRNT and APA Division 50. In addition, Cathy Backinger has been named chief of the Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB) of the Behavioral Research Program in NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Our past president, Ellen Gritz has been named as a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Belinda Borrelli has been named Assistant Editor for Addiction. Noboru Hiroi joined the editorial board of Neuropsychopharmacology and has been selected to serve on the Ziskind-Somerfeld Award selection committee for the Society for Biological Psychiatry.
I want to thank the many contributors to this newsletter and encourage anyone who is interested in writing an article about their lab, research, or another topic that our readership may find of interest to please contact me.
Sincerely,
SRNT Newsletter is published quarterly by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (www.srnt.org). The newsletter is distributed electronically to members of SRNT. If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to the electronic mailing list, e-mail Bruce Wheeler at bwheeler@reesgroupinc.com.
Copyright 2008 SRNT: Permission to copy without fee all or part of any material without a copyright notice is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage. To copy material with a copyright notice requires specific permission; direct inquiries or requests to the copyright holder as indicated on the article.
Editorial correspondence: Karen Cropsey, Psy. D., University of Alabama School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, 401 Beacon Parkway West, Birmingham, AL 35209. Phone (205) 916-0135 x505. kcropsey@beapsy1.his.uab.edu. Articles, letters, reviews, and proposals for columns are welcome.
Central office: 2810 Crossroads Drive, Suite 3800, Madison, WI 53718 US. Phone 608-443-2462 or 608-443-2469, fax 608-831-5485. info@srnt.org.