MILANO GRADUATE SCHOOL'S HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH CENTER
RECEIVES $4.8 MILLION GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

GRANT TO GO TOWARDS STUDY ON "EFFECTS OF SMOKING CESSATION
INTERVENTIONS IN A CHINESE POPULATION"

(New York, NY - June 17, 2002) The Milano Graduate School's Health Policy Research Center has received a $4.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute for a study to evaluate the effects of smoking cessation programs in a Chinese American community. The Center will be working closely with NYC's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, on the study. The project will examine the effectiveness of culturally and linguistically appropriate media campaigns plus increased access to on-site community-based tobacco cessation services in positively influencing tobacco-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviors among a New York City Chinese American population.

Tobacco use is the most important cause of preventable death in this country for all racial/ethnic groups. In New York State over 30,000 deaths per year are attributed to tobacco. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that the smoking prevalence rate among Asian males in NYC is at least double the overall smoking prevalence rate in NYC of 21%. According to Dr. Marianne Fahs: "These preliminary statistics, while high, are thought to be underestimates. It appears that Chinese Americans may be at particularly high-risk for deadly tobacco-related diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and stroke." Census data show that Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the US and in NYC, Chinese Americans constitute the single largest subgroup of Asian Americans in NYC. "Good public health is all about early detection and prevention", says Fahs. "Tobacco-related disease is preventable, and yet we know very little about the dynamics of smoking behavior among recent US immigrants."

Dr. Fahs is working with Chinese community groups, the NYCDOH, and with colleagues from the Milano Graduate School Community Development Research Center, to develop efficient community-based prevention strategies. Study results will provide important information on how to allocate limited resources for community tobacco control interventions, designed to influence an Asian American population, in the most cost-effective manner. Even findings of a modest effect may have a tremendous impact on the public's health. The results from this study could potentially be replicated in many other Chinese and Asian communities across the country and the world.

"Tobacco is a top priority [for the Bloomberg Administration] and I hope that together we can increase the momentum and efficacy of control measures for the major epidemic of our time," remarked Dr. Thomas Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. Dr. Frieden, who lead a successful fight against drug-resistant tuberculosis in New York in the early 1990's as an assistant health commissioner, has said he would make it his main priority to combat smoking in the city.

The Milano Graduate School's Health Policy Research Center, run by Dr. Marianne C. Fahs, is dedicated to enhancing the health of all by connecting science with equitable and efficient health policies. The Center investigates a broad spectrum of health improvement strategies for local and national populations, provides training and technical assistance, and presents practical recommendations for decision-makers in both the private and public health care sectors. The independence of the Center as a free-standing health policy "think-tank" integrating rigorous technical skills within the environment of creative intellectual leadership of the Milano Graduate School, offers a unique opportunity for health policy analysis that is both innovative and viewed as unmotivated by vested interests. In a time of widening health gaps between the affluent and the poor in our cities, strategic policy analysis and efficient health investments have never been more important.

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The Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, a division of New School University, offers Master's degree programs in Human Resources Management, Organizational Change Management, Nonprofit Management, Health Services Management and Policy, Urban Policy Analysis, as well as professional development programs in professions that shape the way organizations work, communities function and people live. The School also offers a Ph.D. program in Public and Urban Policy. For further information on the Milano Graduate School, call 212/229-5400 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of eight agencies that compose the Public Health Service (PHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The NCI, established under the National Cancer Act of 1937, is the Federal Government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The National Cancer Act of 1971 broadened the scope and responsibilities of the NCI and created the National Cancer Program. Over the years, legislative amendments have maintained the NCI authorities and responsibilities and added new information dissemination mandates as well as a requirement to assess the incorporation of state-of-the-art cancer treatments into clinical practice. The National Cancer Institute coordinates the National Cancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.