My research interests include tobacco control, air pollution, especially particulate pollution, and respiratory outcomes. In tobacco control, I am currently working determining the secondhand exposure of non-smoking women and children in more than 30 countries, secondhand exposure among bar and nightclub employees in 20 countries, estimating the population health benefits associated with increasing rates of smoking cessation in Japan, management of literature databases in support of the 2004 Surgeon General’s Report on active smoking; the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report on involuntary smoking; and the 2003 TobaccoFree Japan report; with the objective to produce evidence for policy development and capacity building.

My research interest in environmental epidemiology is the association between asthma mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease mortality, and exposure to air pollution, mainly particulate matter less than 10 microns in aerodynamic diameter, in the United States using a case-crossover study design.

Epidemiology, tobacco, air pollution, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

1998-2002 National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), Doctoral scholarship

1998 National Institute of Public Health/School of Public Health, Honors

1997-1998 CONACyT, Master Scholarship

1993-1995 Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Undergraduate Scholarship

1993, 1995 CONACyT and the Mexican Academy of Science, Summer in Science Scholarship

1. Apelberg B, Onicescu G, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM. Estimating the Risks and Benefits of Nicotine Replacement Therapy for Smoking Cessation in the U.S. AJPH (in press).

2. Rudin CM, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM. Lung cancer in never smokers: a call to action. Clin. Cancer Res. (in press).

3. Samet JM, Avila-Tang E , Boffetta P, Hannan LM, Olivo-Marston S, Thun MJ, Rudin CM. Lung cancer in never smokers: clinical epidemiology and environmental risk factors. Clin. Cancer Res. (in press).

4. Rudin CM, Avila-Tang E, Harris CC, Herman JG, Hirsch FR, Pao W, Schwartz AG, Vahakangas KH, Samet JM. Clin. Cancer Res. (in press).

5. Kim SR, Wipfli HL, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM, Breysse P. Method validation for measurement of hair nicotine level in nonsmokers. Biomed Chromatogr. 2009: 23:273-279 (Epub Sep 23 2008)

6. Avila-Tang E, Apelberg B, Yamaguchi N, Katanoda K, Sobue T, Samet JM. Modeling the Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation in Japan. Tob Control. 2009;18:10-17 (Epub-Aug 26 2008)

7. Thun M, Hannan LM, Adams-Campbell LL, Boffetta P, Buring JE, Feskanich D, Flanders WD, Jee SH, Katanoda K, Kolonel LN, Lee IM, Marugame T, Palmer JR, Riboli E, Sobue T, Avila-Tang E, Wilkens LR, Samet JM. Lung Cancer Occurrence in Never-Smokers: An Analysis of 13 Cohorts and 22 Cancer Registry Studies. PLoS Medicine 2008:5(9) e185:0001-0015.

8. Valdés-Salgado R, Avila-Tang E, Stillman FA, Wipfli H, Samet JM. [Laws that prohibit to smoke in enclosed spaces in Mexico]. Salud Publica Mex 2008;50 Suppl 3:S334-S342. Spanish.

9. Wipfli H, Avila-Tang E, Navas-Acien A, Sungroul-Kim, Onicescu G, Yuan J, Breysse P, Samet JM and the FAMRI Homes Study Investigators. “Secondhand Smoke Exposure of Women and Children: Evidence from 31 Countries”. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(4):672-9.

10. Stillman FA, Bone L, Avila-Tang E, Smith K, Yancey N, Street C, Owings K. Barriers to smoking cessation in inner-city African American young adults. Am J Public Health. 2007;97(8):1405-8

11. Stillman F, Navas-Acien A, Ma J, Ma S, Avila-Tang E, Breysse P, Yang G, Samet J. Second-hand tobacco smoke in public places in urban and rural China. Tob Control. 2007 Aug;16(4):229-34.

12. Barrientos-Gutierrez T, Reynales-Shigematsu LM, Avila-Tang E, Wipfli H, Lazcano-Ponce E. [Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in homes of Mexico City: analysis of environmental samples and children and women hair]. Salud Publica Mex. 2007;49 Suppl 2:S224-32. Spanish.

13. Blackford AL, Yang G, Hernandez-Avila M, Przewozniak K, Zatonski W, Figueiredo V, Avila-Tang E, Ma J, Benowitz N, Samet JM. Cotinine concentration in smokers from different countries: relationship with amount smoked and cigarette type. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006;15(10): 1799-804

Chapters

1. Avila-Tang E, Matsui E, Wiesch DG, Samet JM. Epidemiology of Asthma and Allergic Diseases. In: Middleton et al. Allergy: Principles and Practice. 7th edition. St. Louis: Mosby, 2008.

2. Avila-Tang E, Wiesch DG, Samet JM. Epidemiology of asthma and allergic disease. In: Middleton et al. Allergy: Principles and Practice. 6th edition. St. Louis: Mosby, 2003.

Technical Reports

1. Jategaonkar, N. (Ed.) Civil Society Monitoring of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: 2007 Status Report of the Framework Convention Alliance. Geneva: Framework Convention Alliance, 2007.

2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. Project manager for the accompanying interactive literature database that contains the data from more than 900 studies that support the conclusions in the report (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/sgri/).

3. Tobacco Free*Japan. Recommendations for tobacco control policy. Tokyo, Japan: A co-publication of ‘‘Tobacco Free*Japan’’ and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2004 (http://www.tobaccofree.jp/E/Using.html).

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006. Project manager for the accompanying interactive literature database that contains the data from more than 1,600 studies that support the conclusions in the report (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/sgr/search.aspx).