Center for Evaluation and Coordination of Training and Research in Tobacco Regulatory Science (CECTR)
Principal Investigators: Jeanne Rosenthal and David Brian Abrams
Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- Grant
ID Number: 1U54CA189222-01
Award Date: 9/1/2014
Institution: Westat, Inc.
This project establishes the Center for Evaluation and Coordination of Training and Research in Tobacco Regulatory Science (CECTR), formed as a joint effort by Westat and the Legacy Foundation’s Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies. CECTR -- which will be staffed by tobacco scientists, evaluators, training developers, epidemiologists, analysts, and statisticians – will serve as an efficient infrastructure for providing scientific leadership and technical research expertise. CECTR’s specific aims are: (1) to accelerate knowledge sharing and innovation by facilitating collaboration and communication; (2) to increase the timely availability of tobacco regulatory science conceptual models, common measures, and other policy-relevant research tools; (3) to enhance the capacity of the research community to conduct more rapid and impactful tobacco regulatory science research by coordinating cross-disciplinary training of CTP-funded scientists and facilitating data sharing, analysis, and synthesis; and (4) to enhance the quality and innovativeness of tobacco regulatory science and expand research capacity through a rigorous evaluation process. Results will include sustained and significant improvements in tobacco regulatory science methods, standards and applications; development of a shared conceptual framework for tobacco regulatory science; and training of the next generation of tobacco regulatory scientists.