Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin

What you should know about vaping and e-cigarettes

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About Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin

Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin is focused on developing a bio-behavioral understanding of substance use behaviors in adult and adolescent substance users. In the area of adolescent tobacco use, she has conducted qualitative research including focus groups and surveys to understand patterns and perceptions of use of tobacco products, clinical trials to develop and test the use of novel behavioral and pharmacological cessation and prevention interventions, and experimental evaluations of behavioral and neural predictors of use and cessation behaviors. Because of her expertise in youth tobacco use behaviors, she has contributed to the Surgeon General’s report on Preventing Tobacco Use among Young People and also serves as a member of the FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee. Suchitra is a professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Co-PI on the Yale Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science.

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About This Talk

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, were originally created to provide cigarette users with a cleaner form of nicotine. However, in recent years, these and similar devices such as vapes have found a rapidly growing audience of users in teens and young adults who have never smoked before. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, an expert in youth tobacco use and addiction, was not surprised to see vaping catch on with teens—with sleek designs, thousands of fun flavors to choose from, and a highly customizable user experience, this new way of smoking makes nicotine all the more appealing and addicting to the smartphone generation. As Suchitra puts it, “While trying to solve one huge public health problem—cigarette smoking—we may have created another colossal one.”

Our lack of vigilance around cigarette smoking in the early years led to a public health crisis, and Suchitra is determined to prevent us from repeating the same mistakes again with e-cigarettes. Tune in to her 2018 TEDMED Talk to learn more about why she is calling for more research, regulations, and a serious public education around the health consequences of vaping.

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