Lois Biener 2014 World Cancer Congress

Lois Biener

Dr. Lois Biener has been involved in research evaluating tobacco control interventions for over 20 years. Much of her research and writing has focused on the population impact of pro and anti-tobacco media and marketing and of tobacco control policy interventions. Recent research has focused on the marketing and consumer response to new, potentially reduced exposure tobacco products including the effects of corrective information on perceptions of harmfulness, and strategies for informing consumers about the relative toxicity of tobacco products. Dr. Biener developed a web-based national monitoring network, called New Product Watch, made up of state tobacco program staff and their community partners. Participants monitored the availability and marketing of new smokeless tobacco products nationally with the goal of creating a more comprehensive and timely source of information about new products than is currently available. Dr. Biener has particular expertise in the design and implementation of population surveys. She directed the surveys of Massachusetts residents for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program from 1993 to 2000, and then was awarded a National Cancer Institute grant to conduct a longitudinal study of Massachusetts population to evaluation the impact of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. She has served on federal advisory panels for major tobacco control interventions in the United States and has provided expert assistance to the state programs in Massachusetts, California, Maine, New York, and Wisconsin. She has served on external review panels for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Smoking and Health and the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. Dr. Biener holds a doctorate in social psychology from Columbia University.