Dr. Edward Lichtenstein was a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute for over 40 years and is now an ORI Scientist Emeritus. He conducted tobacco cessation and prevention research and published numerous empirical papers and reviews of the literature. Dr. Lichtenstein contributed to several Surgeon General Reports on smoking and health and served on numerous review panels and advisory groups.

Dr. Lichtenstein is one of the luminaries in tobacco control. He was among the first to see smoking as an important target for behavioral intervention. He helped point the field in a public health direction – away from purely individual interventions to strategies that could impact large numbers of people. Dr. Lichtenstein was also among the first to explore the role of self-efficacy (the strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals) in cessation and to focus research on the benefits of social support in helping people quit smoking. He and others helped to institutionalize smoking quitlines that now serve hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.