NOV/DEC 2004
Volume 10 - No. 4
Research Activities at a Featured Program
SRNT Newsletter
November/December 2004, Volume 10, Number 4
Research Activities at a Highlighted Program:
The Virginia Youth Tobacco Project
Virginia Commonwealth University
The Virginia Youth Tobacco Project (VYTP) is a partnership of more than 50 faculty research scientists at 6 Virginia universities, working together to understand and help solve the problem of youth tobacco use. The VYTP began operations in 2002, when Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) signed a $4.25 million contract with the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation (VTSF) to advance the foundation's mission to achieve a permanent reduction in tobacco use among Virginia's youth. VTSF's Board of Trustees recognized that success would hinge on high-quality, evidenced-based approaches to this complex problem. VYTP was created to supply scientific expertise, and to integrate research efforts across an array of scientific fields. The VYTP has enabled the establishment of 21 new research collaborations, six of them involving cross-university partnerships.
DR. ROBERT L.BALSTER
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Etiology:
Determine the causes of youth tobacco use and progression to
nicotine dependence, in general, and in vulnerable sub-populations of youth.
Research Translation:
Foster new, science-based prevention strategies and interventions.
Evaluation:
Assess and validate the effectiveness of VTSF's statewide system
of school- and community-based prevention programs.
Policy Analysis:
Provide objective research on the costs and benefits of various use-reduction options.
DR. ROY W. PICKENS
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- Behavioral genetics and genetic epidemiology of tobacco intiation and dependence
- Neurological and behavioral pharmacology of nicotine
- Tobacco vulnerable population studies
- Clinical behavioral studies of adolescent tobacco use
- Studies of individual motivation regarding tobacco use
- Tobacco prevention media effects studies
- Tobacco policy impact studies
- Prevention program performance and outcome studies
- Tobacco vulnerable population interventions
The VYTP is fortunate in being able to draw on the experience of a number of Virginia-based researchers with established national and international reputations in research on nicotine and tobacco, including Robert Balster, Richard Bonnie, Thomas Eissenberg, Kenneth Kendler, Billy Martin, and Roy Pickens. To date, VYTP projects have resulted in 17 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 40 conference presentations. The VYTP held a statewide conference in March 2004 to provide a forum for discussion among scientists at work in Virginia and top researchers from around the country the latter including Gilbert Botvin, Richard Clayton, and Steven Sussman.
Having secured renewal funding from VTSF, VYTP plans to continue and extend its program of research. Several NIH grant initiatives are in the works. Also, work is well underway on a second statewide conference, which will aim to facilitate research translation by bringing together VYTP scientists and tobacco provention practitioners. The VYTP's medium to long-term objectives include the following
- A more thorough understanding of the neural-biological and behavioral substrates of adolescent tobacco use initiation and progression to dependence
- High precision indicators of particular individual and group vulnerabilities to tobacco
- Validated, customized, and practical interventions, to help young people resist formation of the tobacco habit, or find the will to quit
- More extensive, subtle, and precise understanding of how to create media and educational materials that work in preventing youth tobacco use
- More reliable and objective understanding of the costs and benefits associated with various government policy interventions regarding youth tobacco use
- Firm establishment of a dedicated, state-wide VYTP "institute without walls" that sets a national standard for scope, integration, and excellence in youth tobacco prevention research.