Lucinda England, MD, MSPH is our 2023 Keynote Speaker!
The Changing Tobacco Landscape: Implications for Women and Girls
Dr. England’s work has focused on studying the effects of tobacco
exposure and of individual components of tobacco exposure (such as
nicotine) on pregnancy, fetal development, and offspring health and on
translating this information into public health messages. Her research
has included studies of tobacco use in pregnancy in diverse settings
such as Sweden and western Alaska. Developing effective messaging
strategies for new research findings requires an understanding of how
tobacco companies market a spectrum of products, including NRT and
smokeless tobacco, to women and girls. Dr. England’s research revealed
that companies accomplished this in part by promoting products as harm
reducing. As new products become available, public health approaches are
needed that respond to and anticipate industry marketing tactics.
Dr.
England received her MD from the University of Kentucky College of
Medicine in 1992 and completed residencies in pediatrics at Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 1995 and in general preventive
medicine at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1998. She
completed training as an officer in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service
in the Division of Reproductive Health in 2000. As a postdoctoral fellow
at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, she conducted research on tobacco and pregnancy
outcomes, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and preterm
delivery, and on smokeless tobacco use among pregnant women. She then
worked in the area of tobacco and reproductive health at CDC over the
next 20 years, also serving as the medical advisor for the Tips from
Former Smokers campaign, as a writer and reviewer for numerous Surgeon
General’s Reports, and providing subject matter expertise to WHO, NIH,
FDA, CMS, and the EPA. To promote collaboration in the field across
disciplines, she organized many multidisciplinary international expert
meetings on tobacco and women.