In The Spotlight

In May 2003, Pr Gerard Dubois, Chairman of the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) since 1993-1998, was (unanimously) elected Chairman of the National Coalition against Smoking. The Coalition put together 20 NGOs, some 100 in the anti-smoking field (CNCT, OFT, DNF), some with part of their goals in the anti-smoking action (French cancer league, French Cardiology Federation, National Committee against Respiratory Diseases).

Georgetown’s School of Nursing & Health Studies conducted a successful Summer Institute for Tobacco Control Practices May 29-30. Over 50 participants, representing 30 nursing schools in the US, attended the “train-the-trainer” educational conference. Faculty from UC San Francisco’s School of Pharmacy developed the Rx for Change: Clinician Assisted Tobacco Cessation Curriculum and joined with faculty at Georgetown University to integrate tobacco education in nursing curriculum. Participants also heard from leading tobacco control experts such as Cheryl Healton, CEO of the American Legacy Foundation and Peter Shields MD, Director of Cancer & Epidemiology at Georgetown’s Lombardi Cancer Center. Directors of the Summer Institute for Tobacco Control Practices were Janie Heath RN, MS, CCRN, ACNP & Jean Kelley RN, PhD, FNP.

Starting July 7, Linda Pederson, PhD, will be Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, & Professor of Public Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA.

Judith P. Wilkenfeld, a tobacco-control activist for more than two decades, is the 2003 recipient of the American Lung Association/C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award. Each year, an individual who has made a significant impact on the tobacco-control movement receives the award. Wilkenfeld began working on tobacco control in the early 1980s as the individual responsible for the FTC’s Tobacco Control Program. Virtually everything the FTC accomplished with regard to tobacco from the early 1980s until 1994 was the direct result of her efforts. She continually battled a bureaucracy that did not see tobacco as a priority and internal economists who sought to restrict government involvement in the tobacco issue. She persevered in the face of adversity—often alone—and continued to fight for what was right under circumstances in which a lesser person would have given up. From the FTC, Wilkenfeld became a Special Advisor for Tobacco Policy in the Office of the Commissioner of the FDA. She was part of the top policy group that formulated the agency’s assertion of jurisdiction over tobacco products and played a leading role in the development of FDA’s far-ranging tobaccocontrol regulation. Regarded as an international expert on tobacco regulation, Wilkenfeld became Vice Chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Scientific Advisory Committee on Tobacco Regulation in 2002. That committee makes recommendations to WHO and guides international policy development in product regulation. Wilkenfeld was the only non-scientist appointed to the committee. After retiring from federal service, Wilkenfeld joined the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, leading the Campaign’s efforts to secure the first-ever global tobacco-control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The recent success of the treaty negotiations is, in no small part, a result of efforts by Judy and her colleagues in the public health community. After decades of selfless, passionate work to curb the tobacco industry’s corrupt practices and create a national and international legal framework that will effectively attack the global tobacco pandemic, the American Lung Association feels it is only fitting and just that Judy Wilkenfeld is awarded the Unsung Hero Award. A panel of experts representing national and grassroots tobacco-control organizations chooses the recipient of the award each year. Previous recipients of the Unsung Hero Award include Robert Mecklenberg, former U.S. Chief Dental Officer; Donald Shopland, National Cancer Institute; and Peter Hanauer, Americans for Nonsmokers Rights.