University Times

A new center at Pitt seeks to increase the University’s role as a source of expertise and information on tobacco and smoking cessation.

“I want us to be seen as a resource,” said Graduate School of Public Health Dean Donald S. Burke, adding that Pitt is well equipped to contribute information of local relevance that can be used to serve the region’s citizens.

Formed in last June, Pitt’s ReSET (Reduce Smoking and Exposure to Tobacco) Center came about following a GSPH symposium in which researchers called for a way to increase tobacco education and aid collaboration among tobacco researchers and experts.

Burke, who chairs the ReSET board, said that when he arrived at Pitt in 2006, Allegheny County was steeped in major political discourse over anti-smoking ordinances, which led him to assess the role the University and GSPH was playing.

“I thought it was such an important public health topic we needed to be involved,” he said. Feedback from faculty was positive — they had a strong sentiment that Pitt needed to be action-oriented on the issue, Burke said.

The GSPH symposium reinforced the consensus that “we not only can be, but should be” an important force for public health in Allegheny County and statewide with regard to tobacco and smoking-cessation issues, the dean said.

Funded jointly by GSPH and the Office of Research, the center’s stated mission is “to reduce tobacco exposure regionally, nationally and globally through research and education.”

That effort, however, starts at home, Burke said. Among Pitt’s strongest suits is its ability to provide information, data and studies of local relevance on tobacco-related issues. He said local data can make a more compelling case than relying on studies done elsewhere as a basis for the region’s decision-making.

The center perhaps is proving to be one of Pitt’s timeliest efforts. ReSET recently has funded several tobacco-related research projects at Pitt and is gaining public visibility both locally and at the state level, as well as on campus. ReSET executive director Stephanie Land plans to speak to the University Senate benefits and welfare committee next month.

Land testified in Harrisburg last month before a conference committee in the state legislature that is working to draft a clean indoor air bill that can pass both the House and the Senate. The committee voted Tuesday to postpone any action until its next meeting on April 29.

The center also hosted a social event designed to recognize local venues that have gone smoke-free voluntarily, in the form of a “Smoke-Free South Side Celebration” happy hour featuring live music at Club Café.

Land, “an anti-smoking zealot since I was a kid,” has been at Pitt since 1999. A GSPH research assistant professor, she divides her time between the part-time executive director position at ReSET and her responsibilities as a statistician for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project and for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Three other part-timers round out the ReSET staff.

She’d like to see a drop in statewide smoking rates, which have remained relatively stable over the past decade — 22 percent in 2006 compared with 24 percent in 1996 — to levels similar to California’s 13.3 percent, which fell from 22.7 percent in 1988 following anti-smoking legislation.

California is reporting significant declines in tobacco-related cancers and a below-average incidence rate for six of nine tobacco-related cancers, Land said.

She noted that about 16 percent of deaths in Allegheny County are attributable to smoking, including lung and other tobacco-related cancers and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Plenty of potential ReSET projects are on Land’s mind. She hopes to grow the center’s web site (www.publichealth.pitt.edu/reset) into a frequently updated clearinghouse for smoking-related data and to include listings of related community activities.

In response to a request from symposium attendees for greater opportunity for researchers to meet, she also wants to start a monthly seminar series at which faculty and student researchers could present their work.

She hopes to schedule a mini-symposium on tobacco aimed at health care providers in which researchers could exchange information on the latest cessation research and learn what practitioners in the field are seeing.

However, taking precedence currently has been the education of policymakers, thanks to the timeliness of the issue. Land has testified to Allegheny County Council on tobacco issues as well as to state legislators. She currently is preparing policy documents as a follow-up to her testimony in Harrisburg.

She said state legislation on an indoor smoking ban could be in the hands of the House and Senate by summer, adding that it is hoped legislation can be passed during the current session. Differences in the House and Senate versions could prove problematic and legislation that includes too many loopholes may not pass. Likewise, too many exemptions from clean air laws could cost a bill the support of many in the public health community.

Land said exemptions make enforcement harder, while an across-the-board ban on smoking in bars and restaurants makes it immediately apparent to patrons if an establishment is breaking the rules.

Another issue is whether to allow local laws in addition to the state law, or “pre-emption,” which was included in the Senate version but not the House version. “If you don’t pre-empt local legislation, you can allow localities to simplify clean air laws at the local level,” she said, meaning that stronger legislation could be enacted if local leaders are dissatisfied with the state’s version.

The opportunity to contribute information that may impact state legislation is valuable, Land said, noting that legislation has more potential to change health behaviors than research does. She said that in places where anti-smoking legislation is in force, not only does the rate of smoking decline, but youth smoking also declines.

Pitt funding for the center is secured for three years. Land plans to seek extramural funding, but her initial focus has been on getting the center established. The track record being gained will give potential funders tangible examples of the center’s work, she said.

ReSET may not be the last center GSPH helps establish around public health issues, Burke said. Although there are no solid plans, Burke said he would like to see GSPH more engaged in disease prevention and health promotion efforts in other areas — both as a fulfillment of civic responsibility and as a practical way for students and faculty to be engaged in the applications of their research.

Noting that Pitt already is strong in the areas of obesity, cancer and heart disease prevention, Burke said plenty of other issues remain — water pollution, violence and infectious diseases, for instance. “All have important public health dimensions,” the dean said.

Burke said he’s spoken with state and county health officials with positive results. “I think there’s a need there as well as willing partnerships,” he said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow