Bloomberg School Professor Appointed to FDA Tobacco Committee

Joanna Cohen, PhD, MHSc, associate professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, has been appointed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee for a four-year term.

As a member of the 12-person committee, Cohen will provide expertise on the evaluation of scientific research in areas such as health policy, epidemiology, global tobacco control and nicotine dependence.

Cohen has been involved in tobacco policy research for 20 years. Trained in epidemiology and health policy, her research interests focus on the factors that influence the adoption and implementation of public health policies, and on evaluating the effects of such policies. Cohen has been recognized for her teaching and mentoring, and has co-led a six-year training program in public health policy. She is also a senior editor of Tobacco Control, the leading peer-reviewed journal in the field. 

"It is a tremendous honor to be appointed as a member of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee," Cohen said. "The Food and Drug Administration has an unparalleled opportunity to make significant headway in reducing tobacco-caused death and disease. I look forward to advising the FDA based on the best available evidence."

The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee reviews and evaluates safety, dependence and health issues related to tobacco products, and provides appropriate advice, information and recommendations to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs.

The Institute for Global Tobacco Control was established in 1998 and aims to prevent death and disease from tobacco use by generating, synthesizing and translating scientific evidence to support effective tobacco control policies, programs and activities. The Institute has become a key international resource to support tobacco control action in countries around the world.

Tobacco products kill almost six million people worldwide annually. More than 400,000 of those deaths occur in the United States, and all of them are completely preventable.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health media contact: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu.