The mission of the Tobacco Control Center of Excellence (TCCOE) at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center is to expand knowledge and reduce the burden of tobacco-related disease through research, education, training, treatment and implementation.

The TCCOE was established in 2017 with support from the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. The TCCOE is one of the four transformational teams within the AHWFBCCC. Our leadership team is made up of:

  • Directors: Eric Donny, PhD and Erin Sutfin, PhD
  • Associate Directors: Rachel Denlinger-Apte, PhD (Associate Director, Public Health Sciences) and Ryan M. Drenan, PhD (Associate Director, Basic Sciences)

The Tobacco Control Center of Excellence aims to:

  • Encourage a wide range of research aimed at better understanding the use of tobacco products and their impact on health.
  • Facilitate the translation of research into effective prevention, treatment, and policy interventions.
  • Support the development of promising students and faculty.

Research Activities

The TCCOE is interested in promoting activities across a wide range of areas including basic science, transdisciplinary/translational research, prevention, cessation, addiction and decision sciences, reducing tobacco-related disease, health disparities, potential reduced harm tobacco products, policy and regulatory science.

What TCCOE does that you can take advantage of:

  • Facilitate inter-programmatic, inter-campus, inter-institutional, translational research.
  • Pilot Project and Ignition Funds awards.
  • Seminars and speaker series.
  • Travel support and professional development.
  • Incubation Hour sessions – an informal venue to brainstorm new ideas, get feedback on pilot/grant applications, receive additional insights on study results and discuss current work and potential areas of collaboration.
  • Institutional advocacy on advancing tobacco research, talents acquisition/retention, policies, and high-impact work (i.e. practice-changing, paradigm-shifting and policy-relevant).