Professor Brad Rodu of the department of Medicine was recently awarded the 2022 Michael Russell Award during the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, Poland. The prestigious award is presented in memory of Professor Michael Russell, a psychiatrist and research scientist who was a pioneer in the study of tobacco dependence and the development of treatments to help smokers quit.

Rodu was awarded for the recognition of his substantial and innovative contribution to the science and understanding of safer nicotine products and tobacco harm reduction. Rodu has been involved in research and policy development regarding tobacco harm reduction since 1994 and has authored 70 medical publications about tobacco (Global Forum on Nicotine, 2022).

Professor Gerry Stimson, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London and co-founder of the Global Forum on Nicotine, who presented the award, said: “Brad’s ethical and thorough approach, together with his critical analysis of others’ work make him a very deserving recipient of the 2022 Michael Russell Award. His work on smokeless tobacco, its relative safety and his studies involving the use of new products to help smokers switch have advanced the knowledge and understanding of tobacco harm reduction in a significant way.”

Rodu has been appointed the first holder of the Endowed Chair in Tobacco Harm Reduction Research at the University of Louisville’s Brown Cancer Center. Prior to joining UofL 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.