Dr. Lee joined the University of Hawaii faculty in the fall of 2001, and was previously at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Her research interests are in the area of health communication and health policy research. Specifically, she studies the process through which interpersonal and mass-mediated communication influences individual perceptions about social norms and expectations regarding health behaviors. She is currently directing several projects in the area of tobacco use prevention and control.

EXERCISE –BASED SMOKING CESSATION FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
Smoking prevalence among young adults is on the rise. Although numerous national organizations and federal agencies have identified the need for new tobacco cessation interventions for young adult smokers, there is a shortage of information on cessation programs directed at this population. As such, while significant progress has been made in smoking cessation programs for adult smokers, it is still unclear about what needs to be done to get young adult smokers to quit. Funded by a grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the project aims to develop, implement and evaluate an innovative smoking cessation program, incorporating exercise intervention and relational partner support, tailored for college student smokers.

DEVELOPING AN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SMOKING CESSATION FOR KOREAN IMMIGRANTS
Smoking prevalence among Korean men is one of the highest in the world. In addition, racial/ethnic minority smokers have little knowledge of the health effects of smoking or techniques to quit smoking, probably due to an underdeveloped tobacco control infrastructure and low levels of resources for research and program delivery. The Surgeon General’s Report on tobacco use among US Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups underscores the need for better infrastructures for tobacco control and culturally as well as linguistically appropriate programs and resources for racial/ethnic minority groups. Funded by a grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, this project aims to develop an infrastructure for smoking cessation within the Korean immigrant community. The project aims to increase smoking cessation among Korean immigrant smokers by 5% by 2006.

EVALUATING THE STATEWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE TOBACCO USE
As an initiative of the Hawai‘i Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund, a statewide media campaign has been implemented since July 2004. The long term goals for the campaign are (1) to increase perceived importance of tobacco as a public health issue among the general public, (2) to increase public support for smoke-free public/work places policies among the general public, and (3) to strengthen social norms in support of a tobacco-free life style. Dr. Lee conducts an independent evaluation to study the impact of the campaign in achieving its goals and to generate information that can be used by the PAC team to adjust and refine campaign strategies for future phases of the campaign to maximize the impact.

EVALUATING FULL COURT PRESS PROJECT
Dr. Lee is Principal Investigator on the evaluation of the Full Court Press Project, an innovative comprehensive effort to reduce youth smoking in Tucson, Arizona, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. While the literature identifies key factors that play important roles in the tobacco uptake process, to date a consistently effective intervention strategy for preventing tobacco use by youth has not been found. Full Court Press (FCP) was funded by a $3.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop a prototype for achieving an effective program to reduce tobacco use by youth. The goal of the FCP evaluation project was to carefully study the nature and extent of FCP’s impact on Tucson youth in order to advance the understanding of how best to combat the problem of tobacco use among youth. This increased understanding contributes to the improvement of future programs intended to reduce tobacco use by youth nationwide.