Jenny Twesten, MPH, Project Director of the National Cancer Institute, Tobacco Control Research Branch contract, co-authored a manuscript in the November issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research (NTR) that was selected as an Editor’s Choice submission. The manuscript details the challenges of measuring cigarette smoking risk perceptions among adult smokers and non-smokers on questionnaires and opportunities for improved measurement based on current scientific evidence. The co-authors provide ten suggestions for researchers and survey developers to consider when assessing cigarette risk perceptions to improve how smoking risk perceptions may influence cigarette smoking behaviors.

Jenny is a public health communicator with more than seven years of experience providing clients with innovative solutions to disseminating research, synthesizing the state-of-the-science, and improving self-report assessments. She contributed to the production of two monographs, managed an extramural research portfolio, and led the early adoption of podcasts to disseminate research. As a Project Director at Bizzell, she provides research and communications guidance on a portfolio of tobacco and cancer-related projects, including co-authoring three tobacco control manuscripts and overseeing the implementation of two digital media campaigns. Her research interests are cancer prevention, early detection and survivorship, modifiable health behaviors such as tobacco use, and risk perception. She holds a Master of Public Health from George Washington University.

Nicotine & Tobacco Research (NTR) is one of the world’s few peer-reviewed journals devoted exclusively to the study of nicotine and tobacco. It aims to provide a forum for empirical findings, critical reviews, and conceptual papers on the many aspects of nicotine and tobacco, including research from the biobehavioral, neurobiological, molecular biologic, epidemiological, prevention, and treatment arenas.

Read Article: https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article/22/11/1937/5688704