About Us
Tobacco addiction causes 438,000 deaths in the United
States each year, making it the leading preventable cause of death.
In addition, some 8.6 million Americans live with serious smoking-related
illness. Of the 44.5 million current smokers, 70 percent say that
they would like to quit. But without assistance, less than five
percent are able to stop smoking. They need help from health professionals,
whose advice serves as a powerful motivator.
The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) is a national program
office of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation that aims to increase
smoking cessation rates and increase the number of health professionals
who help smokers quit. The Center creates partnerships for results
with a variety of groups and institutions to develop and implement
action plans around smoking cessation. Partnerships with dental
hygienists, nurses, pharmacists, emergency physicians, hospitals,
labor unions, family physicians, the Veterans Health Administration
and myriad other groups all lead toward the same goal: saving lives
by increasing cessation rates and cessation interventions.