Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Joanna Cohen, PhD, MHSc, is Chair of the Department of Health, Behavior & Society. She conducts research and capacity building to inform and advance interventions to eliminate tobacco-caused death and disease.
Contact Info
Research Interests
tobacco control; public health policy; tobacco industry; policy evaluation; ethics
Additional Links
Experiences & Accomplishments
Joanna Cohen (she/her) is the Bloomberg Professor of Disease Prevention and the Director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Cohen obtained her PhD in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and her MHSc in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto. She has been involved in tobacco policy research for 30 years. Trained in epidemiology and health policy, her research interests focus on the factors that affect the adoption and implementation of public health policies and on evaluating the beneficial effects and the unintended consequences of such policies. She has worked on studies of both US and Canadian legislators regarding tobacco and tobacco control policy, a longitudinal cohort of smokers focusing on factors influencing quitting behavior, tobacco promotion at the point of sale, tobacco prices including taxes, tobacco packaging, options for reducing the physical availability of tobacco products, and tobacco industry interference in tobacco control.
Dr. Cohen has been recognized for her teaching and mentoring, and has co-led a 6-year training program in public health policy.
She was a Senior Editor of the journal Tobacco Control for 20 years, and has been a voting member of the US Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee.
Honors & Awards
2004 - Robin Badgley Award (Teaching, Early Career Category), Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto 2003 - Field Preceptor Award, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto 2000 - “Mentor of the Year” Award, conferred by the National Mentoring Program of the American Public Health Association
Select Publications
My publications primarily focus on tobacco control policy.
Cohen JE, Eissenberg T, Zeller M. PMI-Funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World: Application of Criteria to Assess Funding Models that Include Financial Support from the Tobacco Industry. Tobacco Control Published Online First: 01 February 2024. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-058474
Alonso F, Cohen JE. Rotation of Tobacco Health Warnings and Messages – Challenges and Recommendations for Implementation. Tobacco Control Published Online First: 29 June 2024. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-058640
Saenz de Miera Juarez B, Welding K, Tseng TY, Grilo G, Cohen JE. Tobacco Industry Pricing Strategies During Recent Tax Adjustments in Mexico: Evidence from Sales Data. Tobacco Control 2024 Aug 6:tc-2024-058711. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-058711.
Nian Q, Hardesty JJ, Crespi E, Sinamo J, Kennedy RD, Welding K, Cohen JE. Is Maintenance or Switching Between Freebase and Nicotine Salt Liquid Associated with Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Dependence? Substance Use & Misuse 2024; 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2369154
Hefler M, Durkin SJ, Cohen JE, Henriksen L, O'Connor R, Barnoya J, Hill SE, Malone RE. New Policy of People-First Language to Replace 'Smoker', 'Vaper' 'Tobacco User' and Other Behaviour-Based Labels. Tobacco Control 2023;32(2):133-134. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-057950
Cohen JE, Czaplicki L, Crespi E, Brown J, Luo W, McWhirter K, Masangra B, Pankow J. Menthol and Other Flavor Chemicals in Cigarettes from Vietnam and the Philippines. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 2023; ntad146, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntad146