Dr. Robin Mermelstein is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology, Director of the Institute for Health Research and Policy, and Co-Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been funded as a PI on tobacco-related NIH-grants continuously since 1986. Much of her research has addressed the question of adolescent and young adult tobacco use; understanding the development and trajectories of tobacco use; using novel methods, such as EMA to examine the immediate contexts surrounding smoking and to understand, in-depth a variety of combinations of tobacco use.
Throughout Dr. MermelsteinGÇÖs career, her research has also addressed the development and evaluation of smoking cessation interventions for adolescents, young adults, unmotivated adult smokers, and special populations of adult smokers. One of her recently completed grants funded by the NCI developed and evaluated approaches to increase young adult smokersGÇÖ demand for evidence-based, web interventions for cessation.
One of her current grants is examining the efficacy of different combinations of intervention components to help smokers who are not motivated to quit to reduce their smoking or to attempt to quit. In addition, she has had substantial experience leading large, multidisciplinary collaborations addressing tobacco research questions, and ensuring the smooth and productive working relationships across projects and investigators.
Dr. Mermelstein served as the Co-Chair of the NCI Tobacco Control Priorities Consultant Group (2015-2016), and am a current member of the External Scientific Advisory Board for the Adolescent Behavior and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study) of NIH. She is a past President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, which has provided her with a broad overview of the nicotine and tobacco research field.
Her research is focused on adolescent tobacco use and health risk behaviors.