The underpinnings of my work are a series of a systematic reviews that identify gaps in evidence.

Documenting Disparities

Cited by the Surgeon General and Healthy People 2020, this systematic review updated a 2001 review and provides strong evidence that there are large disparities in tobacco use for LGB compared to heterosexual people.

Find it in Tobacco Control >

Building off this work, my colleagues and I have critiqued the Institute of Medicine's report on LGBT health for ignoring the evidence of tobacco disparities (in AJPH), shown the first results by sexual orientation from a southern state's BRFSS (in AJPH), delved deeper into that state's BRFSS (in IJERPH), identified disparities using a community sample for West Virginia (in IJERPH), identified disparities using probability sampling in 10 states (in AJPM), identified differences across sexual orientation domains (in AJPM), and identified disparities in lung cancer screening utilization (in CCC).

Understanding Disparities

My colleague John Blosnich led a systematic review identifying what we know about why these disparities exist.

Find it in Tobacco Control >

I have since worked to examine additional explanations including smoking in LGBT movies (in TC), tobacco coverage in LGBT blogs (in LGBT Health), the role of tobacco retailer density (in NTR), the role of point-of-sale tobacco marketing (in IJERPH), the role of sexual orientation discrimination (in NTR), and a comprehensive look at risks and protective factors (in HEB)..

Intervening on Disparities

Focusing heavily on the gray literature, I reviewed existing interventions (broadly defined) to reduce tobacco use for LGBT people as well as correlates of tobacco use cessation.  

Find it in AJPM >

With colleagues, I've also explored the role of gay bars as potential sites for intervention (in NTR), the diffusion of tobacco-free pride festivals (in AJPH), and how LGBT-serving health centers implement best practices in their systems (in LGBT Health).