Dr. Cheryl Healton of New York University Joins Action on Smoking and Health Board of Trustees

WASHINGTON, July 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Action on Smoking and Health (ASH US) is pleased to welcome Dr. Cheryl Healton to its Board of Trustees. Her extensive experience in public health will be a remarkable asset to ASH as we work towards zero deaths from tobacco.

Dr. Cheryl Healton is the Dean of the New York University College of Global Public Health where she builds the academic, service, and research programs on health prevention, systems intervention, and innovation in public health practice. She is also a Professor at the NYU College of Global Public Health.

Previously, as the founding President and CEO of Legacy (rebranded as The Truth Initiative) - a leading organization dedicated to tobacco control - Dr. Healton worked to further the foundation's mission: to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. During her time with Legacy, she guided the national youth tobacco prevention counter-marketing campaign, truth®, which has been credited with reducing youth smoking prevalence to record lows. Legacy launched a national smoking cessation campaign, public education campaigns, technical assistance, and a broad program of grant making. Additionally, Legacy established the Steven A. Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Studies.

Prior to Legacy, Dr. Healton held numerous roles at Columbia University where she worked to expand the scope of public health programs and undertook innovative educational initiatives to advance public health practice. She served as Assistant Vice President for the Health Sciences, Associate Dean of the medical school and later the Associate Dean of the School of Public Health, Chair of the Department of Sociomedical Science, and Professor of Clinical Public Health.

Dr. Healton's deep understanding of the tobacco control field, as well as her collaborations with top public health researchers globally, will strengthen ASH's cutting-edge approaches to ending the tobacco epidemic. Dr. Healton shares ASH's view that we are not doing enough to address the tobacco epidemic. She has repeatedly shown an ability to turn visions into reality.

Cigarettes are the only consumer product that kill when used exactly as their manufacturer intends, causing more than 7 million deaths every year. It is time to regulate these products in a way that is proportional to the harm they cause.

Governments should consider holding the tobacco industry criminally liable for the harm they cause as well as considering steps to phase cigarettes out of the market. Ending the completely preventable tobacco epidemic is a human rights and development challenge that the world CAN overcome this century.

ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH
Founded in 1967, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America's oldest anti-tobacco organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the magnitude of the problem. ash.org

ASH Contact: Megan Arendt, (202) 659 - 4310
NYU Contact: Rachel Harrison, (212) 998 - 6797

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SOURCE Action on Smoking and Health