Center for Global Health | Faculty

picture of Erika Avila-Tang Erika Avila-Tang

Assistant Scientist
Epidemiologist, Institute for Global Tobacco Control

Academic Degrees

PhD, Johns Hopkins University, 2005; MHS, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico, 1998; BSc, Autonomous University of Sinaloa, 1996.

School/Organization
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Department / Division
Epidemiology

Center and Institute Affiliations
Institute for Global Tobacco Control

Departmental Address
627 N. Washington St, 2nd. Floor
Baltimore, MD 21205

Email: etang@jhsph.edu
Phone: 410-955-3435
Fax: 410-614-1003

Research and Professional Experience

My research interests include international tobacco control, tobacco farming and children. I am currently working determining exposure to nicotine in children and families that grow tobacco in Brazil. I also collaborate in studies that measure secondhand exposure in public places in Latin America and Asia. Many of these projects produce evidence for policy development and capacity building.

Keywords

Epidemiology, tobacco, air pollution, children, secondhand smoke exposure, green tobacco sickness, international tobacco control, policy-relevant research on tobacco

Honors and Awards

2009 Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, Faculty Grant in Global Health
1998-2002 National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), Doctoral scholarship
1998 National Institute of Public Health/School of Public Health Mexico. Honorable mention. MHS with Honors
1997-1998 CONACyT, Master Scholarship 1993-1995 Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Undergraduate Full Scholarship
1993, 1995 CONACyT and the Mexican Academy of Science, Summer in Science Scholarship

Research Projects
Nicotine exposure in children and families of tobacco farming households in Brazil
Background: Brazil is the second world producer and top world exporter of unmanufactured tobacco leaf. As a ratifying country of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the government has made a commitment to enact legislation and programs that will support...

Second Hand Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Bar and Nightclub Employees
The objective of this study is to assess exposure of bar and nightclub employees to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) in 23 countries throughout the world. For this project, which is just starting, we will sample 10 bars and up to 5 employees per bar in each country. SHS will be assessed using...

Tobacco Control Course in Mexico
"Perspectives on Tobacco Control in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean" is a one-week course offered in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in collaboration with Mexico''s National Institute of Public Health. Since 2000, the course has been offered every other year and is in high demand by students...

Tracking Tobacco Control Measures in Southeast Asia
The overall goal of this project is to build capacity in tracking and surveillance of tobacco control measures by development and use of data collection instruments for tracking and surveillance of tobacco control measures and industry activities that run counter to tobacco control. Four key...

Selected Publications

Click here for a complete list of Erika Avila-Tang's PubMed citations
Apelberg B, Onicescu G, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM. Estimating the Risks and Benefits of Nicotine Replacement Therapy for Smoking Cessation in the U.S. Am J Public Health. 2009 Dec 17 [Epub ahead of print].
Rudin CM, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM. Lung cancer in never smokers: a call to action. Clin Cancer Res.2009:15:5646-61.
Samet JM, Avila-Tang E , Boffetta P, Hannan LM, Olivo-Marston S, Thun MJ, Rudin CM. Lung cancer in never smokers: clinical epidemiology and environmental risk factors. Clin Cancer Res 2009;15:5626-45.
Rudin CM, Avila-Tang E, Harris CC, Herman JG, Hirsch FR, Pao W, Schwartz AG, Vahakangas KH, Samet JM. Clin Cancer Res 2009;15:5622-5.
Kim SR, Wipfli HL, Avila-Tang E, Samet JM, Breysse P. Method validation for measurement of hair nicotine level in nonsmokers. Biomed Chromatogr. 2009: 23:273-279 (Epub Sep 23 2008)
Avila-Tang E, Apelberg B, Yamaguchi N, Katanoda K, Sobue T, Samet JM. Modeling the Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation in Japan. Tob Control. 2009;18:10-17 (Epub-Aug 26 2008)
Thun M, Hannan LM, Adams-Campbell LL, Boffetta P, Buring JE, Feskanich D, Flanders WD, Jee SH, Katanoda K, Kolonel LN, Lee IM, Marugame T, Palmer JR, Riboli E, Sobue T, Avila-Tang E, Wilkens LR, Samet JM. Lung Cancer Occurrence in Never-Smokers: An Analysis of 13 Cohorts and 22 Cancer Registry Studies. PLoS Medicine 2008:5(9) e185:0001-0015.
Valdés-Salgado R, Avila-Tang E, Stillman FA, Wipfli H, Samet JM. [Laws that prohibit to smoke in enclosed spaces in Mexico]. Salud Publica Mex 2008;50 Suppl 3:S334-S342. Spanish.
Wipfli H, Avila-Tang E, Navas-Acien A, Sungroul-Kim, Onicescu G, Yuan J, Breysse P, Samet JM and the FAMRI Homes Study Investigators. Secondhand Smoke Exposure of Women and Children: Evidence from 31 Countries. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(4):672-9.
Stillman FA, Bone L, Avila-Tang E, Smith K, Yancey N, Street C, Owings K. Barriers to smoking cessation in inner-city African American young adults. Am J Public Health. 2007;97(8):1405-8
Stillman F, Navas-Acien A, Ma J, Ma S, Avila-Tang E, Breysse P, Yang G, Samet J. Second-hand tobacco smoke in public places in urban and rural China. Tob Control. 2007 Aug;16(4):229-34.
Barrientos-Gutierrez T, Reynales-Shigematsu LM, Avila-Tang E, Wipfli H, Lazcano-Ponce E. [Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in homes of Mexico City: analysis of environmental samples and children and women hair]. Salud Publica Mex. 2007;49 Suppl 2:S224-32. Spanish.
Blackford AL, Yang G, Hernandez-Avila M, Przewozniak K, Zatonski W, Figueiredo V, Avila-Tang E, Ma J, Benowitz N, Samet JM. Cotinine concentration in smokers from different countries: relationship with amount smoked and cigarette type. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006;15(10): 1799-804
Book Chapters
Avila-Tang E, Matsui E, Wiesch DG, Samet JM. Epidemiology of Asthma and Allergic Diseases. In: Middleton et al. Allergy: Principles and Practice. 7th edition. St. Louis: Mosby, 2008.
Avila-Tang E, Wiesch DG, Samet JM. Epidemiology of asthma and allergic disease. In: Middleton et al. Allergy: Principles and Practice. 6th edition. St. Louis: Mosby, 2003.
Technical Reports
Jategaonkar, N. (Ed.) Civil Society Monitoring of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: 2007 Status Report of the Framework Convention Alliance. Geneva: Framework Convention Alliance, 2007.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. Project manager for the accompanying interactive literature database that contains the data from more than 900 studies that support the conclusions in the report (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/sgri/).
Tobacco Free*Japan. Recommendations for tobacco control policy. Tokyo, Japan: A co-publication of ‘‘Tobacco Free*Japan’’ and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2004 (http://www.tobaccofree.jp/E/Using.html).
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006. Project manager for the accompanying interactive literature database that contains the data from more than 1,600 studies that support the conclusions in the report (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/sgr/search.aspx).