Frank T. Leone, MD, MS, Chair of the American Thoracic Society’s Tobacco Action Committee and associate professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is available to discuss the health effects and regulation of e-cigarettes.
Dr. Leone, recently named the 2013 “Practitioner of the Year” by the Philadelphia County Medical Society and recognized by Best Doctors in America 2011-2012, directs Penn's Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program at the Penn Lung Center. His research focuses on treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder and on methods for disseminating this information to physicians across the United States.
Dr. Leone earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed his residency and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He also holds a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Pennsylvania.
He is a member of a number of professional and scientific societies, including the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. He has served as President of the Board of Directors of the American Lung Association of Pennsylvania and has served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a legislative appointee to the Governor's Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Advisory Committee since 2001.
The American Thoracic Society recently released a policy statement on the regulation of e-cigarettes, which recommends that federal, state and municipal authorities should assert jurisdiction and effectively regulate e-cigarettes, including setting age restrictions for their sale and regulating their content and advertising.“Because e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, they may be addictive and have adverse health effects, and they should be regulated by the FDA,” said Dr. Leone. “Until more is known about their content and the health effects of their use, they cannot be routinely recommended as a treatment option for smokers who want to quit."