Disproportionate tobacco use among marginalized groups and diseases related to this use will be discussed during a monthly seminar series beginning at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Murrow CADD 218-220. WSU is teaming with the state and the University of Washington to offer the health disparities series for faculty and graduate students.
“This is a ground breaking collaboration among the state’s two research universities and the state department of health,” said Erica Austin, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, one of the seminar sponsors. “We think this represents just the beginning of an active and important partnership.”
Dr. Beti Thompson of the Cancer Prevention Research Program and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will discuss cancer prevention for Latinos in the first meeting. Regular discussions will follow on the first or second Wednesdays for nine months.
Other experts in the series will discuss topics such as differential explanations for tobacco use and possible interventions in groups defined by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation; the link between mental illness and smoking; social stress theory and tobacco use; acculturation processes and tobacco use; the genetics of tobacco use; and social deviance and tobacco use.
The Murrow College’s Consortium for the Study of Communication & Decision Making and WSU’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program have partnered with the UW School of Social Work, the UW Tobacco Studies Program, and the Washington state Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control Program to offer the seminar.
An updated schedule, as well as information on RSVPs and videoconferencing, is available at the Tobacco Studies Program website ONLINE @ http://depts.washington.edu/tobacco/calendar.
