Cancer Prevention by Leveraging Technology and Policy Change
Smoking combustible tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, despite decades of progress to prevent youth smoking and help smokers quit.
With a primary focus on youth and vulnerable populations, the Mays Lab conducts research that intersects behavioral science, communication research, and tobacco regulation and policy to prevent and reduce tobacco use and other behavioral risk factors for cancer.
The Mays Lab is highly collaborative, teaming with multidisciplinary researchers from across the country.
By studying cancer prevention interventions for the population as a whole, our research aims to create strategies for preventing cancer occurrence — keeping populations healthy by preventing cancer, particularly among young people.
Mission
At the OSUCCC – James, the Mays Lab’s mission focuses on preventing tobacco use and helping individuals who smoke or who use other tobacco products to quit. By examining innovative communication, technology, and policy-based interventions that target tobacco use and other cancer-risk behaviors, the Mays Lab team of research experts are working to prevent cancer before it starts.
Their groundbreaking work focuses on youth, young adults and vulnerable populations where cancer risk behaviors, such as tobacco use, begin and accelerate. It is in these populations where preventive interventions are paramount.
To accomplish these goals, the Mays Lab research specialists focus on behavioral interventions and population-level policy and regulation for tobacco use. By studying policy-oriented messaging and using technology like mobile platforms, researchers are designing optimal and efficient ways to promote better public health outcomes.
The lab’s researchers seek to:
- Test novel behavioral interventions for tobacco prevention and cessation
- Leverage communication technology to enhance intervention reach and impact
- Create innovative messaging approaches to communicate the risks of tobacco use
- Examine new strategies for policy and regulatory changes to reduce the public health burden of tobacco use
Our research is positioned to benefit cancer prevention for those not only those in Ohio but also those on a national scale.
For more information on the team, collaborations, opportunities and lab-specific inquiries, please contact MaysLab@osumc.edu.
Contact Us
3650 Olentangy River Rd.
Suite 420
Columbus, OH 43214
844-744-2447
MaysLab@osumc.edu