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Telephones quitlines: evidence and promise
Shu-Hong Zhu

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Abstract
There has been a proliferation of tobacco quitlines in recent years, encouraged by the agencies that fund public health programs and by healthcare systems. This talk will offer reasons for the fast adoption of quitlines from the perspectives of smokers, service providers, and program funders. It will present the experimental evidence for the effects of telephone-based intervention. It will examine the potential for using the large data sets of quitlines to further our understanding of the quitting process and to help design clinical interventions accordingly. Finally, it will discuss how a centrally operated quitline might be used to encourage general practitioners to be more consistent about advising smokers to quit and to improve the delivery of pharmacotherapies to smokers who want to use them, and how it can play a significant role in a population-based approach to smoking cessation.

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Biography
Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine in the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Zhu is Principal Investigator of the California Smokers' Helpline, a statewide tobacco cessation service recently recognized with an Award for Program Excellence from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. His research focuses on smoking behaviour and cessation interventions, with a bent toward population-based studies. He began his research with general adult populations and has extended to adolescents, pregnant smokers, smokers using pharmacotherapy, and smokers of low socio-economic status. His work is noted for its quick application of research findings to public health settings, and was honoured with a University of California Wellness Lecture Award from the California Wellness Foundation. A psychologist with a strong background in research methodology, Dr. Zhu has published on intervention as well as experimental design. He consults widely with national and international health and governmental agencies and has been a consultant for the World Health Organization and the World Bank on tobacco control initiatives.

Shu-Hong Zhu
Associate Professor, Family and Preventive Medicine,
University of California, San Diego, USA
szhu@ucsd.edu

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