News and Announcements

Have cigarettes finally met their match? New research from the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center at the Stephenson Cancer Center demonstrates that the newest generation of e-cigarettes may be a powerful tool in quitting tobacco.

Published in the international journal, Tobacco Control, this research shows that the newest generation of high-powered e-cigarettes is able to deliver nicotine just like a cigarette, but with much lower levels of cancer-causing agents and no carbon monoxide.

Francesco Versace, PhD, an experimental psychologist who specializes in the neuroscience of tobacco and other addictions, has been recruited to the Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma. Versace will have a key role at the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center at the Stephenson Cancer Center. He will serve as an associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

A recently published study proposes a pact between the public health community and the vaping community to combat a shared enemy, Big Tobacco. While the two parties have argued the harmfulness – or the helpfulness – of vapor products like e-cigarettes, this study suggests the parties share common ground in uniting to create a super alliance against Big Tobacco companies.

The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust has awarded a five-year, $20 million grant to Stephenson Cancer Center to fund the expansion of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center. Grant dollars will directly support the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, a program of the Stephenson Cancer Center. Tobacco use in Oklahoma continues to be our greatest preventable cause of premature death and disability, and the economic cost to our state exceeds $2 billion.

Two tobacco control researchers, Jennifer Irvin Vidrine, PhD, and Damon Vidrine, DrPH, have been recruited to key leadership positions at the Stephenson Cancer Center located at the University of Oklahoma. Jennifer Vidrine will serve in the newly established role of Deputy Director for Tobacco Research. She will also be appointed Director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center and oversee the center’s tobacco research activities. Damon Vidrine will serve as co-leader for the Cancer Health Disparities Program.