Endowed Chair in Tobacco Harm Reduction Research
School of Medicine
Brad Rodu has been appointed the first holder of the Endowed Chair in Tobacco Harm Reduction Research at the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center.
His research focuses on the substitution of safer tobacco products by smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking with conventional cessation methods because of their addiction to nicotine. His research in comparative epidemiology established the scientific foundation for harm reduction and he continues to study clinical and social interventions aimed at harm reduction.
Tobacco harm reduction has been popular among Swedish men, who have the lowest smoking rate and highest smokeless tobacco usage rate in Europe. In a study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, Rodu found that smokeless tobacco products were primarily responsible for a decline in smoking among Swedish men from 23 percent in 1986 to 14 percent in 1999.
Rodu has published a book summarizing his research, as well as several book chapters and more than 150 articles and abstracts in peer-reviewed journals. He has been principal investigator for numerous clinical trials and extramurally-funded studies.
Prior to joining U of L in 2005, Rodu served on the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where most of his research was conducted.
Rodu earned his D.D.S. at the Ohio State University, completed a residency in oral pathology at Emory University in Atlanta, and was awarded NCI and ACS fellowships at UAB.