For Release October 12, 2006                                                                        

Contact: Kathryn Madden

                                                                                                                                    541.484.2123

                                                                                                                                    kathryn@ori.org

Oregon Research Institute Receives Statewide Award for Tobacco Cessation Efforts

The Oregon Department of Human Services has named Oregon Research Institute (ORI) in Eugene as its 2006 Outstanding Organization in the area of tobacco cessation and prevention.This award recognizes organizations that have implemented creative, innovative solutions to Oregon’s tobacco challenges. ORI Senior Scientist Anthony Biglan, Ph.D., and ORI Executive Director Cynthia R. Guinn will accept the award on behalf of ORI at the Tobacco Prevention & Education Annual Meeting in Newport on October 12 and 13.

“We are very pleased,” notes Biglan. “ORI has been conducting tobacco control research for 30 years; we are hopeful that we have contributed to Oregon’s progress in reducing smoking and smokeless tobacco use. Nevertheless, smoking continues to be the number one preventable cause of death among Oregonians. For that reason, we will continue to work to improve smoking cessation and prevention programs.”

ORI has been at the forefront of tobacco cessation and prevention research in Oregon for 30 years. ORI scientists, including Biglan, Herbert Severson, Ph.D. and Edward Lichtenstein, Ph.D., have conducted groundbreaking work in reducing both smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco (spit) and have made significant contributions to several Institute of Medicine and Surgeon General Reports on smoking and youth. Thousands of Oregonians have participated in ORI’s tobacco cessation programs, many of which have been tested in dental and medical clinics and which have now been adapted for use on the Internet.

One area of ORI’s tobacco research focuses on community-wide programs to prevent tobacco use. Researchers work with parents, schools, and community leaders in Oregon to build protective community systems that will prevent adolescent tobacco use and encourage Oregon youth to choose healthy lifestyles, now and in the future.

In 2000, Biglan received funding from the National Cancer Institute to evaluate the health and well-being of Oregon’s youth. The ORI team collaborated with the Oregon Departments of Education and Health & Human Services, and the Oregon Commission on Children & Families to develop the Oregon Healthy Teens (OHT) Survey. The survey is used to evaluate trends in substance and tobacco use among Oregon’s youth and to plan prevention programs. The State of Oregon is continuing to conduct the OHT survey in a random sample of approximately one-third of all Oregon high schools and the middle and junior high schools that feed into them.

In naming ORI the 2006 Outstanding Organization for youth tobacco prevention efforts, the Department of Human Services noted ORI’s long-term commitment to addressing barriers and policy concerns, eliminating disparities, and involving the youth of Oregon.

Founded in 1960, Oregon Research Institute is a non-profit, independent behavioral research center with its headquarters in Eugene, Oregon. The institute also has offices in Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico.                                                           

-- end --