MeTRIC

The guiding premise of the Metro DC Tobacco Research and Instruction Consortium (MeTRIC) is that the differential burden of tobacco-related disease facing minorities and other underserved populations is attributable to factors that can be prevented or treated. The consortium hinges on a multidisciplinary, multi-level scientific framework to intervene with factors that contribute to DC’s health disparities. Simply put, MeTRIC is a group of researchers, community members, and students from local institutions working collaboratively to target tobacco control issues within the DC metro area with a specific focus on underserved populations affected disproportionately by tobacco. MeTRIC has a unique opportunity to conduct research that will have real-life impact on the health and well-being of metro Washington DC residents and their communities.

If you are interested in becoming a MeTRIC member, please download and review the appropriate Member Agreement below (Scientist, Community, or Student version). Then enter your name, institution, position, and email address in the appropriate form. By submitting this form, you agree to the language in the Member Agreement, and your membership is active at the date of submission. Please note MeTRIC leadership may request a copy of your current CV. You will be added to the MeTRIC listserv upon submitting a member agreement.

Members from Academic or Research Institutions

Kimberly Horn, EdD, George Washington University School of Public Health

Lorien Abroms, PhD, George Washington University School of Public Health

Leighton Ku, PhD, George Washington University School of Public Health

Sean Cleary, PhD, George Washington University School of Public Health

Monique Turner, PhD, George Washington University School of Public Health

W. Douglas Evans, Ph.D., George Washington University School of Public Health

Janet Phoenix, MD, MPH, George Washington University School of Public Health

Usha Murugesan, George Washington University School of Public Health

Debra Bernat, George Washington University School of Public Health

Mandi Pratt-Chapman, George Washington University Cancer Center

Ray Niaura, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Andrea Villanti, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Andrew Anesetti-Rothermel, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Amanda Graham, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Shari Feirman, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Shyanika Rose, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Amy Cohn, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Jennifer Pearson, PhD, MPH, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Sabrina Smiley, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Jessica Elf, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Jennifer Cantrell, DrPH, MPA, Truth Initiative

Michael Amato, PhD, Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative

Eric Lindblom, JD, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Katherine Shats, LL.B, LL.M, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Ana Ayala, JD, LL.M, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Kenneth Tercyak, PhD, Georgetown University

Kathryn Taylor, PhD, Georgetown University

Darren Mays, PhD, Georgetown University

David Levy, PhD, Georgetown University

Cassandra Stanton, PhD, Georgetown University

Community Members

Charles Debnam, BA, CHES, CTTS, CAC, Community Wellness Alliance; Chair, DC Tobacco Free Coalition

Heather Kusnetz, PhD 

Azima Nharimann, George Washington University

Student Members

Maliha Ali, MBBS, DrPH(c), George Washington University School of Public Health

Diane Martinez, DrPH(c), George Washington University School of Public Health

Tiffany Gray, DrPH(c), George Washington University School of Public Health

Laurel Curry, MPH, George Washington University School of Public Health

Jennifer Schindler-Ruwisch, MPH, George Washington University School of Public Health

Ollie Ganz, MPH, Truth Initiative, George Washington University School of Public Health

Vinu Ilakkuvan, MPH, Truth Initiative, George Washington University School of Public Health

Joanne D'Silva, University of Maryland

Rohit Bangera, American University

Bernadette Guzman Antoon, PhD(c), University of Louisville

Elizabeth Seaman, PhD(c), University of Maryland

Andrea Johnson, George Washington University School of Public Health

Lindsey Siff, George Washington University

Past events:

2016 Member Retreat

March 24th, 2016

9am to 3pm 

Milken Institute School of Public Health

E-Cigarette Forum held May 6, 2015

May 6 | 10 am - 12 pm 950 New Hampshire Ave., NW, First Floor Auditorium

MeTRIC Director

Kimberly Horn, EdD, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

Co-Director

Kenneth Tercyak, PhD, Georgetown University

Co-Director

Ray Niaura, Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative

Co-Director

Lorien Abroms, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

Five New MeTRIC Projects Will Tackle High DC Smoking Rates

The DC Metro Tobacco Research and Instruction Consortium (MeTRIC) recently announced funding of five innovative research projects that promise to take aim at tobacco-related inequities that affect the District of Columbia.

“The awards put talent, resources, and expertise together in the form of research teams that will develop and deploy tobacco-control research in the District of Columbia,” says Kimberly Horn, EdD, Metric Director and Associate Dean of Research at Milken Institute SPH. “Our goal is conduct research that aligns with DC health priorities, engages the community, and changes practice or policy quickly in order to reduce high smoking and tobacco-use rates in DC neighborhoods.”

The DC Metro Tobacco Research and Instruction Consortium (MeTRIC) is a partnership of DC-based scientists and other experts in tobacco control. Researchers from three founding institutions, The Milken Institute School of Public Health, the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies/Truth Initiative, and Georgetown University, are at the core of the consortium.

MeTRIC initiated this first-of-a-kind pilot grant program to jump start innovative team science across its members. The pilot program, funded through an endowment by Milken Institute SPH, brings together teams of scientists from the three groups to find solutions to DC’s tobacco problem, especially for its most vulnerable populations.

There are five winning projects all targeting the DC Metro Area. The Milken Institute SPH gave each project an award of $30,000 to develop each study over the next year. The awards go to:

• Eric Lindblom, Senior Scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law at Georgetown University and Leighton Ku from Milken Institute SPH. Lindblom and Ku will examine the risks and consequences of the labeling for “little cigars” or “filtered cigars” under existing federal, DC, and local definitions.
• Lorien Abroms, Co-Director of MeTRIC and Associate Professor at Milken Institute SPH. Abroms and her colleagues will study new ways of using mobile phones in health systems to reach smokers who want to quit.
• Amy Cohn, Research Investigator at the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies and Doug Evans from Milken Institute SPH. Their project will examine health behavior among young adults’ who use menthol cigarettes.
• Kenneth Tercyak, Associate Professor & Director of Behavioral Prevention Research at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Kimberly Horn from Milken Institute SPH. Tercyak and Horn will assess youth tobacco product use and the effects of the regulatory landscape in DC’s most  underserved areas wards.
• Raymond Niaura and Jessica Elf, Director of Science and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Schroeder Institute and Lorien Abroms from Milken Institute SPH. This project will address quitting for smokers with HIV/AIDS.

Each of these projects includes a team of nationally and internationally recognized scientists as well as students, dedicated community advocates and public officials who will work together to address high smoking rates that still persist in some parts of the DC metro area, Horn says.

While overall smoking rates in DC have declined in the last 5 years, inequities persist by gender and race, and by ward. For example, the predominantly black ward 8 has the highest percentage of current adult smokers at 30 percent. The smoking rates in wards 3 and 4, predominately white, are just 8 percent.  At the same time, racial and ethnic minorities generally, including those in the DC area, have been underrepresented and under engaged in tobacco-control research. The end result is that the scientific community still doesn’t have all the answers in terms of what can be done to reduce high smoking rates in these communities. “We need the DC community’s input to discover the best solutions to the problem—scientists don’t hold all the answers.” says Horn. 

Taken together, the pilot studies have the potential to inform local and federal level policy in tobacco control, improve smoking cessation practice using new technologies, and provide meaningful information to community members on the tobacco rates in DC and the associated health problems, which disproportionately affect minorities. The findings of these studies also may inform new tobacco cessation initiatives to be launched in DC as part of the Cancer Moonshot 2020.

Find out more about the DC Metro Tobacco Research and Instruction Consortium.

Past Opportunities

The RFA for Innovative Team Science Pilot Studies is now closed.  More information about awardees will be issued in the near future.

Please see the Request for Applications.