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Ontario Tobacco Research
Unit
Head: Dr. Roberta Ferrence
The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit
(OTRU) is a network that fosters and conducts research, monitoring and
evaluation contributing to programs and policies to eliminate tobacco-related
health problems in Ontario. Under its mandate from the Ontario Ministry
of Health and Long-Term Care, OTRU
- monitors programs and activities conducted under the auspices of the
Ontario Tobacco Strategy, and provides advice and technical expertise
on program evaluation
- analyzes and disseminates science based-information for the research
and public health communities
- exercises leadership on the design and conduct of research projects
- increases Ontario's capacity to conduct research, monitoring and evaluation
- strengthens and broadens our provincial, national and international
network of researchers, programmers and policy-makers.
We believe that, to be successful, our work must be collaborative, of
the highest academic quality and based on priorities we establish in concert
with Ontario's public health practitioners and policy-makers. We must
be accountable to our funders, our institutions and our partners in the
Ontario Tobacco Strategy. The body of knowledge created by our work must
act as a catalyst for the development and implementation of innovative
public health policies and practices.
In addition to annual funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care, one-third of the support for OTRU is provided in kind
by the academic community. At present, OTRU has a director and a team
of six principal investigators at universities across the province, whose
institutions sponsor at least 20 per cent of their time for OTRU activities.
These include Dr. Mary Jane Ashley and Dr. Joanna Cohen, Public Health
Sciences, University of Toronto; Dr. Steven Brown, Statistics, and Dr.
Paul McDonald, Health Studies and Gerontology, both at the University
of Waterloo; and Dr. Tom Stephens, Administrative Studies, University
of Ottawa. In addition, we have 35 co-investigators, who are sponsored
for five per cent of their time, and 28 collaborating investigators who
contribute their expertise to OTRU. There are 46 affiliates in government
positions or in other provinces and nine consultants who can be recruited
for research projects. An advisory board provides counsel on policy and
other issues. About 30 community partners, including research units, teaching
health units, voluntary health-related agencies, professional associations
and clearinghouses, provide important feedback on research needs and priorities.
The central office of OTRU is housed at CAMH, where the director is also
a senior scientist. Eight staff and one principal investigator (Dr. Cohen)
are located at the CAMH site, and three other part-time staff support
OTRU principal investigators at other universities.
OTRU publishes a series of refereed working papers, literature reviews
and annotated bibliographies, as well as a monthly edition of current
abstracts that includes new papers related to tobacco control. In 2000/2001,
OTRU published 10 working papers, five special reports, 11 issues of current
abstracts on tobacco and one index issue. One of the year's highlights
was the American Public Health Association's publication of Nicotine
and Public Health, authored by Ferrence, Slade, Room and Pope.
We disseminate our publications monthly to more than 725 researchers
and health professionals in the province and elsewhere. Our Resource Centre
contains more than 5,000 electronically catalogued documents. We regularly
conduct electronic searches for investigators on specific topics for research
projects and preparation of grant proposals. Our listserv, OTRU-NET, now
has 130 subscribers. In 2000/2001, there were 13,450 visits to our Web
site (www.camh.net/otru).
Some of the special reports we issued during 2000/2001 include:
- Evaluating the Renewed Ontario Tobacco Strategy -- First Interim Report,
March 2000
- Monitoring the Ontario Tobacco Strategy: Progress towards our goals
1999/2000. Sixth annual monitoring report, October 2000
- Evaluating the Renewed Ontario Tobacco Strategy -- Second Interim
Report, September 2000
- Evaluating the Renewed Ontario Tobacco Strategy -- Report on Year
1 Ending Fall 2000, December 2000
- Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs: A Review and Synthesis of
Evaluation Strategies in the United States, June 2001
During the year 2000/2001, OTRU principal investigators produced 24 peer-reviewed
articles on tobacco control. Other investigators affiliated with the unit
contributed extensively to tobacco research. Key areas of current research
include studies on knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to tobacco
control and environmental tobacco smoke, youth access to tobacco, the
role of Canadian legislators in tobacco control, the efficacy of school
prevention programs, social and economic consequences of tobacco use,
and nicotine dependency in youth.
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1-800-463-6273
