“It’s been invaluable to students like me.”
Two University of Florida student researchers earned high praise for their poster presentations at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Lina Modjarrad and Miranda Reid were honored at the event in New Orleans in March.
Modjarrad’s work focused on the adoption of evidence-based tobacco school policies throughout Florida. She won in the adolescent research category with the poster “Exploring the Association between Supportive Smoking Policy and Youth Tobacco Use: Results from the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey.” The results showed that counties in Florida that applied evidence-based smoking policies saw 15.7% lower rates of youth using tobacco products in one year.
A doctoral student in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, Modjarrad was a student research fellow in 2024 in the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at UF, where she was mentored by Christopher Cogle, M.D., in the UF College of Medicine, and two faculty members in the college’s Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics: Jaclyn Hall, Ph.D., and Jennifer LeLaurin, PhD.
Modjarrad shared: “Thank you so much for all of your support and guidance over at Florida Health Policy Leadership Academy! It’s been invaluable to students like me, without which these recognitions wouldn’t have been possible.”
Cancer Moonshot Research
Reid’s poster, based on the Cancer Moonshot program of the National Cancer Institute, earned high marks for clinical policy related to tobacco treatment programs.It summarized in-depth interviews with experts at the treatment programs and their strategies for building and sustaining the program.
The poster’s title is “Strategies described by NCI-designated Cancer Centers to promote leadership engagement and sustain funding of tobacco treatment programs.” These strategies include building supportive networks and finding creative funding sources.
Supporting this qualitative research were faculty members in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics: Jennifer LeLaurin, Ph.D., Carma Bylund, Ph.D., and Ramzi Salloum, Ph.D.
The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco is a leading voice for research on proven methods to curtail smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.