Executive Leadership & Expert Bios

Terry F. Pechacek, PhD

Associate Director for Science, Office on Smoking and Health, NCCDPHP

 

Terry F. Pechacek, PhD, is the Associate Director for Science for the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH). He is responsible for monitoring all scientific work within the office including the preparation of Surgeon General Reports on the health consequences of tobacco use. OSH is the lead federal agency for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control and, as such, is dedicated to reducing death and disease caused by tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Dr. Pechacek has served CDC′s Office on Smoking and Health as a visiting scientist and senior biomedical research scientist since 1995. In 1999, he was appointed the Associate Director for Science. He is the senior author of the 1999 Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs and the 2007 Update, and has also been involved in the preparation of Surgeon General Reports on Smoking and Health since 1979. In 1986, Dr. Pechacek joined the National Cancer Institute in Washington, DC, leading the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) and the early development of the American Stop Smoking Intervention Trial (ASSIST).

Dr. Pechacek received his PhD in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1977. He completed a three-year Post doctoral fellowship in Preventive Cardiology at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. After his fellowship, Dr. Pechacek remained at Minnesota as an associate professor and developed population based interventions for the Minnesota Heart Health Program.

Dr. Pechacek has been involved in tobacco prevention and control research and public health activities since the 1970′s. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and regularly provides expert testimony across the U.S on the efficacy of public health strategies to prevent smoking and tobacco-related diseases. In 2006, Dr. Pechacek was awarded the Surgeon General′s Medallion in recognition of his work to support the Office of the Surgeon General in communicating the risk of tobacco use.

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