TEAM Lab Congratulates Dr. Jonathan Samet for His Contributions to the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General’s Report
The 50th Anniversary of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking was celebrated on January 11th 2014 with the release of The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2014. Jonathan Samet, MD, MS—the Flora L. Thornton Chair for the Department of Preventative Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine and the Chair of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee—contributed his research to the report and presented on a panel at the event commemorating the report’s release. The first Surgeon General report, published in 1964, linked tobacco to cancer and heart disease. To this day, both the report and Dr. Samet influence how the field of public health approaches tobacco control and regulation.
The report confirms that smoking continues to be the largest cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. In fact, more than 20 million Americans have died because of smoking since the first Surgeon General’s report 50 years ago. In response to the persistent epidemic of cigarette smoking, the report states, “Proven tobacco control strategies and programs, in combination with enhanced strategies to rapidly eliminate the use of cigarettes…will help us achieve a society free of tobacco-related death and disease.”
The report references Dr. Samet’s tobacco research and includes his diagram on the potential patterns of use of combustible and non-combustible products.
Dr. Samet is chair and professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC where TEAM Lab is housed, and is director of the USC Institute for Global Health. His research on smoking has helped generate smoke-free policies around the world. Recently, USC President C.L. Max Nikias appointed Dr. Samet as the Flora L. Thornton Distinguished Chair of Preventive Medicine.
TEAM Lab congratulates Dr. Samet for his contributions to the landmark Surgeon General report.
