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

Decision Analysis for Intervention Value Efficiency (DAIVE): A Tool for Cost-Informed Decision-Making in Intervention Optimization.

Design and Baseline Evaluation of Social Media Vaping Prevention Trial : Randomized Controlled Trial Study

Pathway from Exposure to an E-Cigarette Prevention Social Media Campaign to Increased Quitting Intentions : A Randomized Trial Among Young Adult E-Cigarette Users

Physical Activity, Cigarette Smoking, and Depression Among People with HIV

Testing certain and uncertain incentives on study retention in a longitudinal social media survey among young adults : An embedded recruitment trial

Acceptability of a Telehealth Smoking Harm Reduction Intervention Using E-cigarettes among Cigarette Smokers with Substance Use Disorder: A Qualitative Analysis.

Beyond Demographics: Mixed Methods Research for Effective Communication Tools to Prevent Tobacco Use in Latino Adolescents and Young Adults

Differences in Receptivity to Menthol Cigarette Advertising between Adults with and without Anxiety and Depression

Differences in receptivity to tobacco industry marketing among young adults by sexual identity and sex: findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health

Effects of a Social Media Intervention on Vaping Intentions : Randomized Dose-Response Experiment

Effects of a social media intervention on vaping intentions: randomized dose-response experiment

HIV Status and Use of Menthol among a Nationally Representative Sample of Current Smokers

Longitudinal association between e-cigarette use and respiratory symptoms among US adults : Findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study Waves 4–5

Longitudinal associations between e-cigarette use and respiratory symptoms among US adults: findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study

Optimization of Smoking Cessation Interventions via Multiphase Optimization STrategy (MOST): Basic Concepts, Practical Considerations and New Developments

Testing certain and uncertain incentives on study retention in a longitudinal social media-based web survey among young adults

Evaluation of response to incentive recruitment strategies in a social media-based survey

GPH's Answer to the Public Health Challenge of Behavior Change: A Paradigm Shift - Invited Panel Speaker on Optimizing Novel Interventions for Quitting Smoking (ONIQS) for People Living with HIV