Thomas Kirchner

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Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Thomas Kirchner is a clinical-health psychologist and methodologist interested in the analysis and graphical representation of longitudinal and geographic data, including methodologies that link individual behavior to the real-time context in which it occurs. Dr. Kirchner’s research targets momentary influences on the maintenance of health-related behavior utilizing both field-based (ecological momentary assessment) and laboratory-based paradigms. These geographic information systems and analytical methods can then inform public health, research, and policy.

As the Director and Principal Investigator of the mHealth (mobile health) Lab, Dr. Kirchner uses GIS to understand health-related behavior and decision-making in real time (e.g., how people make decisions about what they eat and drink, the places they go to exercise in their neighborhoods, the amount of time they spend outdoors, and whether they smoke cigarettes and/or marijuana). In the Lab, students apply mHealth tools to explore geospatial systems, technology, research, and community advocacy. Students learn how to leverage the power of their cell phones to collect data about neighborhoods and experiences.

Education

MS, Clinical and Biological/Health Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

PhD, Clinical and Biological/Health Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Areas of research and study

Behavioral Determinants of Health

Geographic Information Science (GIS)

Geographically-explicit EMA

Longitudinal Data Analysis

Social Behaviors

Urban Informatics

Urban Science

Publications

Cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use, and sociodemographic correlates of mental health and tobacco-related disease risk in the All of Us Research Program

STROBE-GEMA: a STROBE extension for reporting of geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment studies

Documenting the Impact Potential of a Menthol Cigarette Ban at Point-of-Sale: A Photograph-Based Analysis of the Presence and Placement of Menthol Versus Regular Cigarette Packs on the Shelves of Tobacco Retail Outlets in New York City

Rapid surveillance of New York City healthcare center egress behaviors during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown

Using Smartphone Survey and GPS Data to Inform Smoking Cessation Intervention Delivery: Case Study

Analyzing Trajectories of Acute Cigarette Reduction Post-Introduction of an E-Cigarette Using Ecological Momentary Assessment Data

Electronic cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy among patients with COPD: protocol for an open-label two arm randomized controlled pilot trial

Momentary measurements and chronic conditions

PhenX: Vector measures for tobacco regulatory research

Reducing drinking among people experiencing homelessness: Protocol for the development and testing of a just-in-time adaptive intervention

Adolescent Marijuana Use, Marijuana-Related Perceptions, and Use of Other Substances Before and After Initiation of Retail Marijuana Sales in Colorado (2013–2015)

An African-specific haplotype in MRGPRX4 is associated with menthol cigarette smoking

Crowdsourcing for food purchase receipt annotation via amazon mechanical turk: A feasibility study

Ecological momentary assessment of various tobacco product use among young adults

Flavored cigar smoking among African American young adult dual users: An ecological momentary assessment

Individual Mobility and Uncertain Geographic Context: Real-time Versus Neighborhood Approximated Exposure to Retail Tobacco Outlets Across the US

Youth Access to Tobacco Products in the United States: Findings from Wave 1 (2013-2014) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study

An ecological momentary assessment of cigarette and cigar dual use among African American Young Adults

Beyond blunts: reasons for cigarette and cigar use among African American young adult dual users

Initiation, continuation of use and cessation of alternative tobacco products among young adults: A qualitative study

Acceptability of ecological momentary assessment among young men who have sex with men

Association of TAS2R38 haplotypes and menthol cigarette preference in an African American cohort

Risso, D., Sainz, E., Gutierrez, J., Kirchner, T., Niaura, R., & Drayna, D. (n.d.). In Nicotine and Tobacco Research (1–).

Publication year

2017

Volume

Issue

Page(s)

493-494

10.1093/ntr/ntw275

Indicators of dependence for different types of tobacco product users: Descriptive findings from Wave 1 (2013–2014) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study