Jennifer Cantrell

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Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Jennifer Cantrell, DrPH, MPA, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Her research investigates emerging trends in tobacco and nicotine use and industry marketing, and explores clinical, countermarketing and policy interventions to diminish tobacco's appeal and promote health equity.

Dr. Cantrell currently leads a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded grant (R01CA268932) that uses Multiphase Optimization STrategy (MOST) to optimize cessation treatment for smokers living with HIV in clinical care. This study uses MOST, implementation science and decision analysis to test four interventions targeting multilevel barriers to quitting for people living with HIV, with the aim of developing a cost-effective, scalable and sustainable treatment package delivered in HIV clinical care. In other funded research, Dr. Cantrell uses diverse data sources and methods to explore evolving tobacco and nicotine use patterns and the commercial determinants that drive use. Her research also examines innovative digital counter-marketing strategies with a focus on achieving optimal exposure levels and effective counter-messaging.

Dr. Cantrell is a Co-Investigator with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded R25 training grant on Optimization of Behavioral and Biobehavioral Interventions (PI: Linda Collins). She is Chair of Early Career Faculty Outreach for the NYU Center for the Advancement and Dissemination of Intervention Optimization (CADIO), which trains investigators in intervention optimization methodologies worldwide. She has also served on the Advisory Committees for the Treatment Network and the Health Equity Network for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Dr. Cantrell has published over 70 scientific articles and co-authored a chapter on “Communication, Marketing and Tobacco-related Disparities” in the NCI Monograph 22: A Socioecological Approach to Tobacco-related Disparities. Her research has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, Addiction, Nicotine & Tobacco Research and other leading journals, and featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and The Boston Globe. She also received the highly competitive National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program award from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities for her work on tobacco disparities and health equity.

Prior to joining NYU GPH, Dr. Cantrell was a Managing Director and Scientist at Truth Initiative, a national non-profit research and education organization focused on tobacco use prevention and cessation, where she evaluated and conducted research on national anti-smoking mass media efforts, including the award-winning truth® campaign and the Centers for Disease Control’s Tips for Former Smokers campaign. As part of this work, she led the development of the winning proposal for the 2017 Berreth Award for Excellence in Public Health Communication. She earned her DrPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and her MPA from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She completed postdoctoral training in the NIDA program for Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research at National Development Research Institutes in New York, NY.

Areas of research and study

Alcohol, Tobacco and Driving Policies

Behavioral Science

Health Disparities

Population Health

Public Health Policy

Social Behaviors

Social epidemiology

Publications

Estimating the Pathways of an Antitobacco Campaign

Evidence of the impact of the truth finishit campaign

Examining perceptions about IQOS heated tobacco product: Consumer studies in Japan and Switzerland

It's getting late: improving completion rates in a hard-to-reach sample

Patterns in first and daily cigarette initiation among youth and young adults from 2002 to 2015

Recruiting and retaining youth and young adults: Challenges and opportunities in survey research for tobacco control

Swisher Sweets a Artist Project': Using musical events to promote cigars

Correlates of cigar use by type and flavor among U.S. young adults: 2011-2015

Harnessing Youth and Young Adult Culture: Improving the Reach and Engagement of the truth® Campaign

Mobile marketing: An emerging strategy to promote electronic nicotine delivery systems

Progression to established patterns of cigarette smoking among young adults

The effect of branding to promote healthy behavior: Reducing tobacco use among youth and young adults

The Relationship between Advertising-Induced Anger and Self-efficacy on Persuasive Outcomes: A Test of the Anger Activism Model Using the Truth Campaign

Trajectories of hookah use: Harm perceptions from youth to young adulthood

Validity of a Subjective Financial Situation Measure to Assess Socioeconomic Status in US Young Adults

Agents of social change: A model for targeting and engaging generation Z across platforms: How a nonprofit rebuilt an advertising campaign to curb smoking by teens and young adults