Grantee: Hermine Poghosyan, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Hermine Poghosyan

Hermine Poghosyan, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Cancer Epidemiology and Survivorship Researcher
BRP FEATURED GRANTEE
Organization:
  • Yale University

Dr. Poghosyan is a cancer epidemiology and survivorship researcher whose work has been largely focused on tobacco use among cancer patients and their social network members, including families, friends, and others. Her prior work highlighted the gap in current evidence regarding the role of social network in smoking cessation and showed that one possible way to help cancer patients who smoke to quit is to engage members of their social network. Dr. Poghosyan's overall goal is to enhance our understanding of ways to reduce tobacco use among cancer patients and their families and friends.

Dr. Poghosyan's current R01 will investigate how tobacco-related cancer patients' social networks and affective states influence their smoking behavior and how a patient's cancer diagnosis affects the smoking behavior of their network members. A new diagnosis of cancer is an emotionally shocking experience for both patients and their families, and such an experience makes quitting smoking difficult. Current tobacco treatment interventions are focused almost exclusively on the individual's behavior and fail to address the influential role of the patient's social network and affective states in their decisions to maintain or quit smoking. Quitting smoking is not a choice made solely by an isolated individual, but rather a reflection of the choices made by groups of people connected to each other within the social network. The findings of this study will lay the groundwork for developing novel social network-based smoking cessation interventions to better promote smoking cessation among cancer patients and their social network members.


Tobacco use, which is the leading cause of preventable premature death worldwide, affects too many cancer survivors, their families, and friends. My goal is to find ways to better promote smoking cessation among individuals who have received a cancer diagnosis and their social network members, including families, friends, and others.”