Abigail Halperin, MD, MPH Lecturer, Family Medicine Director, UW Tobacco Studies Program Family Medicine Research Section Phone: 206-616-4482 e-mail

Biographical Information

Abigail Halperin received her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and completed Family Medicine residency training at the University of Washington affiliated Swedish Hospital program in Seattle. After 12 years in a primary care medical practice, she received a Master in Public Health (MPH) degree as a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellow at the UW and began a research and teaching career focused on the prevention and treatment of tobacco addiction and tobacco-related diseases. She has been an investigator on projects funded by the National Cancer Institute, NIAAA and the American Legacy Foundation to conduct research on reducing tobacco and alcohol use among young adults. She has also consulted for the World Health Organization, served on an expert panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has been a member of the strategic planning and evaluation committees for the WA State Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. As principal investigator and program director for two ASPH/Legacy STEP-UP (Scholarship, Teaching, and Education Program for Tobacco Use Prevention) grants, she developed the Tobacco Studies Program at the University of Washington, now in its seventh year. Since 2004, she has served as the Associate Medical Director for Free & Clear, Inc., the largest provider of tobacco quit line services for states, employers and health insurance companies in the United States, and in 2007, developed and became Director of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Smoke Free Life Program, a tobacco cessation clinic for cancer patients at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and SCCA.

Teaching Interests & Roles

Public health impact of tobacco use; policies and practices to reduce addiction to and harms from tobacco

Research Interests & Roles

Tobacco use prevention and treatment; Health policy; Alcohol harm reduction among college students

Current Projects

1-Site PI, CHIPs Study (College Health Intervention Projects); NIAAA funded project (Michael Fleming PI) testing a clinical intervention to reduce high risk drinking among college students (May 2005-April 2009)

2-Director, UW Tobacco Studies Program

3-Associate Medical Director, Free & Clear Tobacco Quit Line

4-Director and Attending Physician, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Smoke Free Life Program (Smoking Cessation Clinic)

Selected Publications

1. Halperin AC. Chapter 1: Boca Raton Action Plan, in Zeltner, Kessler, Martiny and Randera. Tobacco Company Strategies to Undermine Tobacco Control Activities at the World Health Organization. Geneva: World Health Organization. July 2000.
http://www.who.int/tobacco/policy/who_inquiry/en/print.html

2. Halperin AC, Rigotti NR. US public universities' compliance with recommended tobacco control policies. Journal of American College Health. 2003;51(5):181-188.

3. Halperin AC, Thompson LA, Hymer JC, Peterson AK, Thompson B. A Clinician Training Program for Treating Tobacco Use in College Students. Public Health Reports, 2006;121(5):557-62.

4. Carlini BH, Patrick D, Halperin AC, Santos V. The Tobacco Industry's Response to the COMMIT Trial: An Analysis of Legacy Tobacco Documents. Public Health Reports, 2006;121(5):501-8.

5. Savage S, Halperin AC. Building an Academic Tobacco Control Program While Forging Links with Practice: The University of Washington Tobacco Studies Program. Public Health Reports, 2006;121(5):529-37.

6. Thompson B, Coronado G, Thompson LA, Halperin AC, Chen L, Jaffe R, Zbikowski S McAfee T. Prevalence and Characteristics of Smokers at 30 Pacific Northwest Colleges. Nicotine Tob Res. 2007;9(3):429-38

7. Thompson B, Thompson LA, Hymer JC, Halperin AC, Zbikowski S, Jaffe R. A Qualitative Study of Attitudes, Beliefs, and Practices Among 40 Undergraduate Smokers. J Am Coll Health. 2007;56(1):23-28.

8. Halperin AC, McAfee TA. 30 Seconds to Save a Life. Washington Family Physician. April 2007;34(2)16-17.

Clinical Practice Information

UW Medicine Provider Biographies