PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable and premature disease, disability, and death in the US and is
often concentrated among marginalized and minoritized groups, resulting in myriad health inequities. Training
a workforce to understand, conduct, and evaluate the rigor of addictions research is critical to expanding
innovations in tobacco use prevention and treatment and enabling the rapid translation of evidence-based
interventions in routine healthcare delivery, ultimately reducing tobacco-related health inequities. By
leveraging extant NIDA investments and creating new courses and activities, the Supporting Tobacco-Related
Ongoing Education and Research (STRONGER) Scholar Program will provide research and education
experiences to prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists to address tobacco/nicotine addiction and its
associated health inequities in research and practice. The STRONGER Scholar Program will provide research
education in tobacco addiction science to medical students (7 Med Scholars x5 cohorts) and clinically-focused
doctoral trainees (4 Grad Scholars x4 cohorts), matriculating a total of 51 Scholars with >50% identifying as
members of racial or ethnic minoritized groups, women, and other groups who are underrepresented in the
biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences. The STRONGER Scholar Program will build Scholars’
competencies in: 1) tobacco dependence treatment knowledge, 2) tobacco research knowledge and skills, with
attention to health equity science; 3) resiliency for a research-inclusive career; and 4) responsible conduct of
research through participation in a mentored research project and courses for skills development. The Specific
Aims of the STRONGER Scholar Program are to: 1) identify, select, train, and mentor qualified trainees,
resulting in an over-time increase in knowledge, skills, and interest in conducting tobacco addiction research;
2) increase scholars’ knowledge of tobacco/nicotine dependence and treatment through a competency-based
curriculum, fostering skill development and interprofessional learning experiences; 3) systematically evaluate
all aspects of the research education program using a mixed methods approach to enhance and strengthen the
program iteratively over time; and 4) achieve >51 professional conference presentations and >51 peer-reviewed
publications; disseminating information about the program, its research, and its scholars through social media
outlets, a website, and health campaign messaging. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has
no other NIDA-funded tobacco addiction science research and education programs. The program aligns with
the institution’s strategic planning goals and its Scholars will benefit from the rich resources for scholarly and
professional development at the nation’s #1 cancer center. The goal of the STRONGER Scholar program is to
enhance clinically-focused trainees’ interest in, ability to be successful within, and – ultimately – pursuit of a
research-inclusive career in tobacco addiction science.