For over twenty years, Dr. Yerger has dedicated her research and advocacy to framing the disproportionate burden of tobacco use among marginalized communities as a pressing social injustice. Her work has profoundly shaped public health policies aimed at effectively reaching and engaging these communities. By analyzing previously hidden tobacco industry documents, Dr. Yerger has exposed the industry's connections with African American leadership groups, the accumulation of nicotine in melanin-rich tissues, the targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes in inner-city neighborhoods, and the industry’s internal research on the use of menthol as an additive in cigarettes. Dr. Yerger has made groundbreaking contributions to understanding the factors driving tobacco use among disadvantaged populations. Her innovative approach addresses the demand side of the tobacco epidemic, highlighting how social and political determinants of health create barriers to tobacco prevention and smoking cessation. She is deeply committed to leveraging community-based research to engage advocates in the public health policy process. As a founding member of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), she helped spearhead a national movement to remove menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products from the U.S. marketplace.
For decades, Dr. Yerger has been drawing attention to the need for culturally tailored cessation approaches, especially for Black Americans and other groups heavily impacted by menthol cigarettes and evolving policy changes. Dr. Yerger has provided expert guidance to the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, aiding in the development of targeted messages for the TIPs Campaign aimed at those who smoke menthol cigarettes. In June 2023, she was invited to the White House’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative forum on smoking cessation. After making comments about how stress needed to be addressed as a major driver of smoking in any effort to reduce tobacco-related disparities, Dr. Yerger’s input was requested by the Initiative’s staff. Dr. Yerger formed a collaborative team with members from the AATCLC, the University of California San Francisco’s Smoking Cessation Leadership Center and Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and other colleagues. This collaborative effort resulted in the creation of an electronic magazine to promote a free, scalable mobile app designed to provide rapid-acting stress management tools. The launch of this “e-zine” in February 2024 resulted in a remarkable 700% increase in app downloads within the first four months. Her extensive expertise in tobacco control, community engagement, policy leadership, and training has been widely recognized, as evidenced by the numerous awards she has received, including the UCSF Chancellor Award for Public Service, the State of California Tobacco Control Program’s Carol M. Russell Award for Leadership and Vision in Tobacco Control, the Public Health Law Center’s Game Changer Award, the Truth Initiative’s Sybil G. Jacobs Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Documents, and most recently, the UCSF Claire D. Brindis Award for Community Engagement.
These objectives incorporate smoking cessation into the broader context of social determinants of health, chronic stress, and tobacco industry targeting.
- Explain how factors contributing to chronic stress in vulnerable populations pose specific challenges to smoking cessation; attendees will be able to express the need for tailored smoking cessation programs that also address community assets.
- Explain Emotional Brain Training and identify the basic neuroscience principles behind a free innovative mobile app and its utility as a stress management tool that can be added into smoking cessation strategies.
- Explain how addressing chronic stress was integrated into the White House Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
- Describe how the presence of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. marketplace undermines the Cancer Moonshot Initiative goals of supporting smoking cessation efforts and reducing cancer disparities.
The CME/CE registration site has closed for this live activity. Credit will be available again for the recorded version of the webinar in January.
Certificates of Attendance
Click here to generate a certificate of attendance for participating on this webinar.
ACCME Accreditation
In support of improving patient care, the University of California, San Francisco is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
UCSF designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the webinar activity.
Advance Practice Registered Nurses and Registered Nurses: For the purpose of recertification, the American Nurses Credentialing Center accepts AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM issued by organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Physician Assistants: The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) states that the AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM are acceptable for continuing medical education requirements for recertification.
California Pharmacists: The California Board of Pharmacy accepts as continuing professional education those courses that meet the standard of relevance to pharmacy practice and have been approved for AMA PRA category 1 CreditTM. If you are a pharmacist in another state, you should check with your state board for approval of this credit.
California Psychologists: The California Board of Psychology recognizes and accepts for continuing education credit courses that are provided by entities approved by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM is acceptable to meeting the CE requirements for the California Board of Psychology. Providers in other states should check with their state boards for acceptance of CME credit.
APA: Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
Up to 1.0 CE Credit may be claimed.
ASWB: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, UCSF Continuing Education is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 1.00 general continuing education credit.
Interprofessional Continuing Education Credit (IPCE): This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 1.0 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
Disclosures
This UCSF CME activity was planned and developed to uphold academic standards to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor; adhere to requirements to protect health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA); and include a mechanism to inform learners when unapproved or unlabeled uses of therapeutic products or agents are discussed or referenced.
All speakers, planning committee members and reviewers have disclosed they have no relevant financial relationships to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Catherine Bonniot, Christine Cheng, Brian Clark, Jennifer Matekuare, Ma Krisanta Pamatmat, MPH, CHES, Jessica Safier, MA, Jason Satterfield, PhD, Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, MAS, and Valerie Yerger, ND.
- Post-webinar Q and A
- Connect with EBT trainings - Reach out to Cassidy at [email protected] or visit ebtconnect.net