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Centers and Institutes
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences

Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS)

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Informing Tobacco Policy Regulation

The University of Southern California’s Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (USC TCORS) is one of nine Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science in the U.S. We were created to serve in the production of relevant scientific data to inform the regulatory decision making at the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products. Additionally, we are here to educate and train the next generation of tobacco regulatory scientists.

Through our theme, the Intersections of Products with Diverse Populations, we are conducting research on the use and health effects of specific e-cigarette products across populations. We are studying e-cigarette product characteristics and marketing approaches hypothesized to increase tobacco product attraction, use, and addiction in youth and young adult non-smokers and have little impact on tobacco product use in older smokers. Product standards and marketing requirements limiting non-combustible products to protect young people, while minimizing collateral effects on switching in adult smokers, would satisfy FDA’s mission to protect the overall population.

Primary Research Projects

Research at the USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science takes the form of four primary research projects, initiatives within the Population Resources Core, pilot projects and rapid response projects.

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Project 1

Effects of Social Media Messages and Marketing on Tobacco Transitions

Project 2

Influence of Tobacco Product Characteristics and Marketing on Diverse Populations of Vape Shop Customers

Project 3

Product Characteristics, Marketing, and E-cigarette and Cigarette Use Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Project 4

Human Laboratory Research to Inform Precision Regulation of E-cigarettes Across Populations

Cores

    Administrative Core

    The Administrative Core provides a structural organization to facilitate administrative and scientific oversight as well as timely and efficient communication and integrative links among all Cores and Projects. It will also serve as the direct recipient of input from the National Tobacco regulatory Science Network, which we define as FDA Center for Tobacco Products staff, NIH/TRSP program staff, Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics (CASEL), and other TCORSs, and External Advisory Board (EAB).

    • Provides mechanisms for communication, interaction, and collaboration within USC-TCORS
    • Provides support services to aid with methodological, data processing, measurement, analysis, IT, and participant assessment to all members;
    • Provides assurance of quality and adherence to the scope of the regulatory authority of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products;
    • Enhances dissemination and sharing of research, data and resources

    Population Resources Core

    Provides the Center with a sufficiently large, diverse, and well-followed sample to address the proposed scientific goals.

    Population Core (PC) will provide access to population resources with sufficient representation of tobacco product exposures, population subgroups, and longitudinal follow-up by recruiting and maintaining a sufficiently large, diverse, and well-followed sample to address the proposed scientific goals.

    Population Resources Core

    Career Enhancement Core

    The USC-TCORS Career Enhancement Core provides career building experiences structured to increase the combination of knowledge of regulatory issues and skills in a specific scientific area.

    • Provide career building experiences structured to increase the combination of knowledge of regulatory issues and skills in a specific scientific area
    • Integrating USC-TCORS junior investigators into the teams of one of Center’s the four research projects
    • Enhance our existing pilot research program to ensure that junior investigators pursue independent research questions aligned with our Center’s integrative theme.
    • Increase support for our postdoctoral investigators to network and gain greater exposure to the broader TRS community, including a weeklong research immersion experience at the FDA, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), or at other TCORSs
    Career Enhancement Program

    Directors

    Team

    Caryn Lerman, PhD

    Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences and Psychology

    H. Leslie Hoffman and Elaine S. Hoffman Chair in Cancer Research

    Director USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

    Associate Dean for Cancer Programs

    Faculty profile

    Adam Leventhal, PhD

    Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences; Director of the Institute for Addiction Science

    Faculty profile

    Lilit Aladadyan, MS, MPH

    Center Director

    (323) 442-7223

    Contact our team