Terry Pechacek
Research Professor Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences- Education
Fellow, 1977-1980, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Preventive Cardiology
Ph.D., 1977, University of Texas at Austin, Counseling/Clinical Psychology
M.A., 1973, University of Texas at Austin, Counseling Psychology
B.A., 1970, University of Texas at Austin, Mathematics
- Specializations
Health Policy, Global Health, Community Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control
- Biography
As Research Professor of Health Management & Policy, Dr. Terry Pechacek provides leadership in teaching, research and service to the School of Public Health.
In his 40-year career in health policy research, he was one of the leading scientists guiding a paradigm shift in tobacco control from the individually focused smoking prevention and cessation efforts of the 1970s into the policy-driven, population-based approaches that are now the standard. His research career has been dedicated to developing and translating the scientific evidence base into nationwide and global action needed to reduce tobacco use and the wholly preventable suffering engendered by it. As a senior investigator in Georgia State University’s Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science, he currently leads studies of risk perceptions of novel and alternative tobacco products, particularly e-cigarettes, and the role these risk perceptions have in decisions to use tobacco products.
Before coming to Georgia State, Dr. Pechacek served as deputy director for research translation at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention′s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) since 2012. Dr. Pechacek came to CDC as a visiting scientist and senior biomedical research scientist in 1995. In 1999, he was appointed the associate director for science for OSH. He is the senior author of the 1999 Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs and the 2007 Update, and has also been involved in the preparation of Surgeon General Reports on Smoking and Health since 1979. He was a lead scientist in the development and implementation of almost all national and international surveys of tobacco use since the 1980s, including the National Youth Tobacco Survey, Global Youth Tobacco Survey, National Adult Tobacco Survey, and Global Adult Tobacco Survey as well as a senior technical advisor in the revisions and updates to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Dr. Pechacek was the senior associate scientific editor and contributing author of “The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress” released in January 2014.
Dr. Pechacek earned his Ph.D. in counseling/clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977. He completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in preventive cardiology at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. After his fellowship, Dr. Pechacek remained at Minnesota as an assistant and then associate professor and developed population-based interventions for the Minnesota Heart Health Program. In 1986, Dr. Pechacek joined the National Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C., leading the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) and the early development of the American Stop Smoking Intervention Trial (ASSIST). He also served as acting chief of the Smoking Tobacco and Cancer Branch. From 1991 to 1995, Dr. Pechacek was an associate professor at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, SUNY at Buffalo Medical School, Buffalo, N.Y.
Dr. Pechacek has been involved in tobacco prevention and control research and public health activities since the 1970s. He is the author of more than 250 scientific papers, major government reports, and book chapters and regularly provides expert testimony across the United States on the efficacy of public health strategies to prevent smoking and tobacco-related diseases. In 2006, Dr. Pechacek was awarded the Surgeon General′s Medallion in recognition of his work to support the Office of the Surgeon General in communicating the risk of tobacco use. In 2009, Dr. Pechacek received the Jeffery P. Koplan Award from National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for Outstanding Scientific Contribution.
Dr. Pechacek also conducts tobacco related research in China and goes by Wŭ Tiān Rùi.
- Publications
My NCBI Public Bibliography with PMID listed journal article citations is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1VILhnxbQSm5v/bibliography/49662736/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending
Pecháček TF. Epidemiology of Smoking and Cancer: Recent Trends, and Benefits of Quitting. In: Hecht SS, Hatsukami DK, editors. Tobacco and Cancer [Internet] first ed. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing; 2022. Chapter 11; p.269-295. 427p. Page proof.
Weaver SR, Heath JW, Ashley DL, Huang J, Pecháček TF, Eriksen MP. What are the reasons that many smokers reject ENDS? A national probability survey of U.S. adult smokers, 2016-2017. Drug Alcohol Depend, 2020, Jun 1;211:107855. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107855. Epub 2020 Feb 11. PubMed PMID: 32057533; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7200297.
Pecháček TF. Can e-Cigarettes Help Adults Who Smoke Successfully Quit All Combusted Tobacco Products?. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Oct 1;4(10):e2130924. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.30924. PubMed PMID: 34665244; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9231645.
Spears CA, Jones DM, Cottrell-Daniels C, Elahi H, Strosnider C, Luong J, Weaver SR, Pecháček TF. "When I Don't Have a Cigarette It's Helpful, but It Really Don't Satisfy:" Qualitative Study of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) Use among Low-Income Smokers. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jan 20;19(3). doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031157. PubMed PMID: 35162181; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8834368.
Wang Y, Duan Z, Weaver SR, Popova L, Spears CA, Ashley DL, Pecháček TF, Eriksen MP, Huang J. Consumption of JUUL vs. Other E-Cigarette Brands among U.S. E-Cigarette Users: Evidence from Wave 5 of the PATH Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 31;19(17). doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710837. PubMed PMID: 36078551; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9518567.
Do, V. V., Spears, C. A., Ling, P. M., Eriksen, M. P., Weaver, S. R., Pecháček, T. F., Nyman, A. L., Emery, S. L., Berg, C. J., & Huang, J. (2024). Racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to e-cigarette advertising among U.S. youth. Public Health, 230, 89-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.011. PMCID: PMC11369641.
Wang Y, Duan Z, Weaver SR, Self-Brown SR, Ashley DL, Emery SL, Pecháček TF, Huang J. Cigarette Coupon Receipt and Smoking Relapse by Duration of Smoking Abstinence. Am J Prev Med. 2023 Sep;65(3):485-496. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.02.011. Epub 2023 Mar 12. PubMed PMID: 36918321; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10440251.
Wang Y, Duan Z, Weaver SR, Popova L, Spears CA, Ashley DL, Pecháček TF, Eriksen MP, Huang J. Reply to Foxon, F.; Shiffman, S. Comment on "Wang et al. Consumption of JUUL vs. Other E-Cigarette Brands among U.S. E-Cigarette Users: Evidence from Wave 5 of the PATH Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10837". Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Sep 6;20(18). doi: 10.3390/ijerph20186717. PubMed PMID: 37754577; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10531448.
Henderson KC, Kute NG, Popova L, Ashley DL, Spears CA, Churchill V, Weaver SR, Pecháček TF, Huang J. Content analysis of IQOS direct mail and email marketing in the US. Prev Med Rep. 2024 Feb;38:102634. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2024.102634. eCollection 2024 Feb. PubMed PMID: 38375169; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10874834.
Do VV, Spears CA, Ling PM, Eriksen MP, Weaver SR, Pecháček TF, Nyman AL, Emery SL, Berg CJ, Huang J. Racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to e-cigarette advertising among U.S. youth. Public Health. 2024 May;230:89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.011. Epub 2024 Mar 22.PMID: 38521029
Cottrell-Daniels C, Aycock DM, Pecháček TF, Sims M, Spears CA. Associations Among Experiences With Racial Discrimination, Religion/Spirituality, and Cigarette Smoking Among African American Adults: The Jackson Heart Study. Ann Behav Med, 2024 Oct 30:kaae066. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaae066
Ogrodnick, M. M., Kute, N. G., Van Do, V., Wiley, P., Henderson, K., Spears, C. A., Pecháček, T. F., & Weaver, S. R. (2024). Examining longitudinal associations between initial perceptions and experiences with electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use and use patterns among adults who smoke and recently initiated ENDS. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 22, 10-18332. https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/193009
Weaver, S. R., Spears, C. A., Henderson, K. C., Ashley, D. L., Berg, C. J., Evans, A. T., Geier, A., Kute, N., & Pecháček, T. F. (in press, 2024). Perceptions and intentions regarding IQOS among current US adults who use cigarettes and/or electronic nicotine delivery systems. Tobacco Control. https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2024-058854
DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: Cardiovascular Disease. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: Smoking Attributable Morbidity, Morality, and Economic Costs. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: Patterns of Tobacco Use Among U.S. Youth, Young Adults, and Adults. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: Current Status of Tobacco Control. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: The Changing Landscape of Tobacco Control: Current Status and Future Directions. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
DHHS. Principal contributing author for chapter: A Vision for Ending the Tobacco Epidemic. In DHHS. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2014.
CDC. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2014. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Control and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014. DHHS. Contributing author for chapter: E-Cigarette Policy and Practice Implications. In DHHS. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, Georgia: USDHHS, CDC, NCCDPHP, OSH, 2016.