Staff: Maria L. Roditis, PhD, MPH

Maria Roditis, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Program Director in the Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB) within the Behavioral Research Program (BRP) of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Roditis was a Health Scientist at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Office of Health Communication and Education. At CTP, she conducted research to support the FDA's "The Real Cost" national youth tobacco prevention campaign.

Dr. Roditis earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology and her M.P.H. from Indiana University, Bloomington where she was trained in the Mayo Clinic model of tobacco dependence treatment and provided smoking cessation services to the community. After receiving her doctorate, she trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco and at Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Adolescent Medicine where her research focused on adolescent decision making and perceptions of risks related to tobacco product use.

Dr. Roditis has conducted and has been involved with studies addressing adolescent perceptions of addiction and strategies for messaging on addiction, as well as studies assessing youth perceptions and use of multiple tobacco products.



Secondary Branch/Office Appointment:  Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB)

Current and/or past BRP mentors include Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou.


Scientific Interests

  • Youth tobacco use
  • Health communication
  • Addiction
  • Tobacco control policy

Selected Publications and Presentations

To request edits to this profile, please contact us at ncidccpsbrpadvances@mail.nih.gov.