Staff: Youn Ok Lee, PhD

Youn Ok "Younoki" Lee, Ph.D., is a Program Director in the Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB) within the Behavioral Research Program of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.

Prior to joining TCRB, Dr. Lee served as a Program Officer at the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) in the University of California Office of the President's Research Grants Program Office. Before joining TRDRP, she spent 10 years at RTI International where she led tobacco control research projects funded by federal and state health agencies.

Dr. Lee's published work has examined tobacco-related health behaviors involving emerging tobacco products and population-level tobacco control interventions. Her current areas of interest extend this work with a focus on tobacco control policies, concurrent use of multiple tobacco products, tobacco-related health disparities, and emerging tobacco and cannabis products.

Dr. Lee earned Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After receiving her doctorate, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.



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

Current and/or past BRP mentors include Yvonne Prutzman and Kelly Blake.


Scientific Interests

  • Tobacco control policy
  • Concurrent use of multiple tobacco products
  • Tobacco-Related Health Disparities
  • Emerging tobacco and cannabis products

Selected Publications and Presentations

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