Two behavioral scientists who specialize in tobacco control research, Darla Kendzor, PhD, and Michael Businelle, PhD, have been recruited to the Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma. They bring expertise in utilizing targeted incentives and mobile health technologies as a tool for curbing tobacco use and promoting healthy lifestyle choices, with a particular focus on low socioeconomic status populations.

Each will have key roles in the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center at the Stephenson Cancer Center. Kendzor will serve as program leader for the Tobacco Intervention Research Clinic, and Businelle will serve as leader of the mHealth Core, a resource focused on developing and evaluating tailored interventions via health technologies to promote healthy lifestyle choices. Both will join the OU Health Sciences Center as associate professors in the department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

Kendzor was recently awarded a prestigious R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute to examine the role of providing financial incentives to smoking cessation treatment to facilitate abstinence. Funded through an American Cancer Society grant, Businelle’s research focuses on mobile health technologies such as smart phones to promote tobacco cessation.

“We are extraordinarily pleased that Darla and Michael have joined the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center at the Stephenson Cancer Center”, said Jennifer Vidrine, PhD, director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center. “They bring critically important expertise in tobacco-related health disparities research, with a particular focus on addressing tobacco addiction in underserved socioeconomic and racial / ethnic populations. Their work will help lead the state to a healthier future.”

Kendzor earned a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Louisiana State University. She completed postdoctoral work in health disparities at MD Anderson Cancer Center before becoming an assistant professor in the department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences program at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas.

Businelle also earned his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Louisiana State University. He completed postdoctoral studies in cancer prevention research at MD Anderson before becoming an assistant professor in the department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences.

Both Kendzor and Businelle will be appointed Oklahoma TSET Research Scholars in recognition of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust’s ongoing support for research to reduce the burden of cancer and tobacco use in the state.