Congratulations to our Year 3 Mentored Pilot Awardees!
Preventing e-cigarette use among Latino and African American adolescents one message at a time
Francisco Cartujano- Barrera, MD is a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, part of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Since 2016, Dr. Cartujano-Barrera has worked in the development and implementation of culturally- and linguistically-appropriate interventions for cancer prevention and control. Using a community-based participatory approach, his tobacco control research has focused on addressing tobacco-related disparities among diverse populations (e.g., Latinos, African Americans, people living with HIV, people living in low- and middle-income countries, etc.)
Developing engineered tissue platform for screening the pro-fibrotoc effects of flavored e-cigarettes
Qixin Wang, PhD is a postdoc fellow in Dr.Irfan Rahman’s lab in Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at University at Buffalo, SUNY in 2018, where he focused on toxicity evaluation of nano-materials. His research interests are toxicology evaluation of environmental toxicant; mechanism investigation of lung disease; and developing new bioengineering tools for toxicology study and regulatory science.
Previous Years’ Mentored Pilot Project Awardees
Year 1
Determining the appeal and abuse liability of heated tobacco products: qualitative and behavioral economic evaluation of the role of flavor
Amanda Quisenberry, PhD (RPCCC)
Pulmonary and immuno-toxicological effects of exposure to metals released by e-cigarettes and other emerging ultra-portable electronic nicotine delivery systems
Thivanka Muthumalage, PhD (URMC)
Year 2
Prenatal vaping in the United States: Patterns of e-cig use and cessation by product characteristics and maternal demographics *Cross-TCORS Project
Elaine Hill, PhD (URMC)
Impact of nicotine salts as contained in Juul on pulmonary damage using in vitro and in vivo models
Tariq Bhat, PhD (RPCCC)
Featured CRoFT Mentee: Gagandeep Kaur, PhD
Gagandeep Kaur, PhD is a Postdoctoral Associate working in Dr. Irfan Rahman’s lab on Project 1, Flavor Toxicity, to determine and compare the effects of various flavorings in e-cigarettes, cigarillos, and waterpipe tobacco on toxicological and immune-inflammatory responses. Dr. Kaur won the University-Wide Showcase Award for her presentation on Covid-19 detection in smokers plasma in Covid-19 positive patients and recovered patients.
