Research Summary

I am Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences and Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at San Francisco General Hospital. With over 500 publications, I am a leading authority on the human pharmacology of nicotine and nicotine addiction. My laboratory also is a leading site for biomarker assessment of tobacco toxicant exposure. I am former president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), and the recipient of the Ove Ferno SRNT Award for Clinical Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. I have been a contributing author or editor to six US Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco including the 2010 Surgeon General's Report—How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.

Research Funding

  • July 1, 1977 - June 30, 2025 - Clinical Pharmacology, Drug Action and Pharmacogenetics , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: T32GM007546
  • September 1, 1999 - May 31, 2025 - Drug Dependence Clinical Research Program , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P30DA012393
  • August 5, 1999 - May 31, 2023 - Cancer Center Support Grant , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P30CA082103
  • August 15, 2018 - July 31, 2022 - Cigarette Harm Reduction with Scheduled Electronic Cigarette Use , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01DA045519

Education

Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, MD, 1969, Medicine
Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Bronx, New York, Intern and Resident, Internal Medicine, 1969-1971
Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 1971-1972

Honors & Awards

  • Oscar B. Hunter Award
  • Ove Ferno Award
  • 2002
  • UCSF Annual Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer
  • Rawls Palmer Award for Progress in Medicine
  • Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health
  • 1994-2002
  • NIDA Merit Award
  • American Board of Internal Medicine (Diplomate, 1968)
  • American Board of Medical Toxicology
  • American Board of Clinical Pharmacology
  • American Federation for Clinical Research (President 1996 to 1997)
  • American Society for Clinical Inves-tigation
  • American Society of Clinical Pharma-cology and Therapeutics
  • American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
  • Association of American Physicians
  • Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (President, 1996-1997)

Selected Publications

  1. Rezk-Hanna M, Adolfo A, Warda US, Brecht ML, Benowitz NL. Association of non-daily hookah tobacco smoking and cardiovascular disease-related exposure biomarkers among U.S. users: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. Prev Med Rep. 2023 Dec; 36:102417.  View on PubMed
  2. Pomerleau OF, Benowitz NL, Stitzer ML, Henningfield JE, Hatsukami DK, Corrigall WA, Perkins KA, Lando HA. Srnt As An Outgrowth Of The 1988 Surgeon General's Report On Nicotine Addiction: Reflections Of The Early Presidents. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 Aug 16.  View on PubMed
  3. Dai HD, Benowitz NL, Rogan E, Degarege A, Buckley J, Khan AS. Biomarkers of Toxic Exposure and Oxidative Stress Among U.S. Adult Users of Premium Cigar Versus Other Cigar Subtypes: 2013-2019. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 07 28; 25(Suppl_1):S84-S93.  View on PubMed
  4. Haynes A, Winnall WR, Brennan E, Dunstone K, Benowitz NL, Ashley DL, Samet JM, Hatsukami DK, Wakefield MA. Tobacco constituents, flavorants, and paper permeability of factory-made and roll-your-own cigarettes on the Australian market. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 Jul 18.  View on PubMed
  5. Giberson J, Nardone N, Addo N, Khan S, Jacob P, Benowitz N, St Helen G. Nicotine Intake in Adult Pod E-cigarette Users: Impact of User and Device Characteristics. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 Jul 14; 25(8):1489-1495.  View on PubMed
  6. Rigotti NA, Benowitz NL, Prochaska J, Leischow S, Nides M, Blumenstein B, Clarke A, Cain D, Jacobs C. Cytisinicline for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2023 07 11; 330(2):152-160.  View on PubMed
  7. Matt GE, Greiner L, Record RA, Wipfli H, Long J, Dodder NG, Hoh E, Lopez Galvez N, Novotny TE, Quintana PJE, Destaillats H, Tang X, Snijders AM, Mao JH, Hang B, Schick S, Jacob P, Talbot P, Mahabee-Gittens EM, Merianos AL, Northrup TF, Gundel L, Benowitz NL. Policy-relevant differences between secondhand and thirdhand smoke: strengthening protections from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke pollutants. Tob Control. 2023 Jun 01.  View on PubMed
  8. Islam T, Eckel S, Liu F, Barrington-Trimis J, Harlow AF, Benowitz N, Leventhal A, McConnell R, Cho J. Effects of dual use of e-cigarette and cannabis during adolescence on cigarette use in young adulthood. Tob Control. 2023 May 05.  View on PubMed
  9. Benowitz NL, Warner KE, Myers ML, Hatsukami D, Berman ML, Vallone D, Cohen JE. How the FDA Can Improve Public Health - Helping People Stop Smoking. N Engl J Med. 2023 Apr 27; 388(17):1540-1542.  View on PubMed
  10. Jacobs C, Fonseca M, Rigotti NA, Benowitz N, Clarke A, Cain D. A Phase I, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Single Dose-escalation Study to Evaluate the Tolerability, and Safety of Cytisinicline in Adult Smokers. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 03 22; 25(4):814-820.  View on PubMed
  11. Yang H, Wang X, Wang P, He L, Schick SF, Jacob P, Benowitz N, Gundel LA, Zhu C, Xia Y, Inman JL, Chang H, Snijders AM, Mao JH, Hang B. Thirdhand tobacco smoke exposure increases the genetic background-dependent risk of pan-tumor development in Collaborative Cross mice. Environ Int. 2023 04; 174:107876.  View on PubMed
  12. Warner KE, Benowitz NL, McNeill A, Rigotti NA. Nicotine e-cigarettes as a tool for smoking cessation. Nat Med. 2023 03; 29(3):520-524.  View on PubMed
  13. Mendelsohn CP, Hall W, Borland R, Wodak A, Beaglehole R, Benowitz NL, Britton J, Bullen C, Etter JF, McNeill A, Rigotti NA. A critique of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council CEO statement on electronic cigarettes. Addiction. 2023 06; 118(6):1184-1192.  View on PubMed
  14. Shafie-Khorassani F, Piper ME, Jorenby DE, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Hayes-Birchler T, Meza R, Brouwer AF. Associations of Demographics, Dependence, and Biomarkers With Transitions in Tobacco Product Use in a Cohort of Cigarette Users and Dual Users of Cigarettes and E-cigarettes. Nicotine Tob Res. 2023 02 09; 25(3):462-469.  View on PubMed
  15. Rebuli ME, Rose JJ, Noël A, Croft DP, Benowitz NL, Cohen AH, Goniewicz ML, Larsen BT, Leigh N, McGraw MD, Melzer AC, Penn AL, Rahman I, Upson D, Crotty Alexander LE, Ewart G, Jaspers I, Jordt SE, Kligerman S, Loughlin CE, McConnell R, Neptune ER, Nguyen TB, Pinkerton KE, Witek TJ. The E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury Epidemic: Pathogenesis, Management, and Future Directions: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 01; 20(1):1-17.  View on PubMed
  16. Benowitz NL, Havel C, Jacob P, O'Shea DF, Wu D, Fowles J. Vaping THC-O Acetate: Potential for Another EVALI Epidemic. J Med Toxicol. 2022 Dec 12.  View on PubMed
  17. Rosen RL, Ramasubramani RS, Benowitz NL, Gandhi KK, Williams JM. Caffeine levels and dietary intake in smokers with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2023 01; 319:114989.  View on PubMed
  18. White CM, Watson C, Bravo Cardenas R, Ngac P, Valentin-Blasini L, Blount BC, Koopmeiners JS, Denlinger-Apte RL, Pacek LR, Benowitz NL, Hatsukami DK, Donny EC, Carpenter MJ, Smith TT. Early Changes in Puffing Intensity When Exclusively Using Open-Label Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes. Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 10 26; 24(11):1798-1802.  View on PubMed
  19. Masson CL, Gubner NR, Benowitz N, Hosakote S, Le T, Guydish JR. Lifetime use of non-nicotine drugs in electronic cigarette devices among a sample of individuals in substance use disorder treatment. Addict Behav Rep. 2022 Dec; 16:100465.  View on PubMed
  20. Young-Wolff KC, Ray GT, Alexeeff SE, Benowitz N, Adams SR, Does MB, Goler N, Ansley D, Conway A, Avalos LA. Association of cannabis use during pregnancy with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection: a retrospective cohort study. Addiction. 2023 02; 118(2):317-326.  View on PubMed

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