University of Louisville public health experts contributed to the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General’s Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress.

Since 1964, smoking prevalence among U.S. adults has been reduced by half, but tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. The report will highlight 50 years of progress in tobacco control and prevention, present new data on the health consequences of tobacco use, and detail initiatives that can end the tobacco use epidemic in the U.S.

Epidemiologists Kathy Baumgartner, Ph.D. and Richard Baumgartner, Ph.D. can speak about the impacts of smoking and general implications of the report prior its release on Friday, Jan. 17. They can speak to specifics within their section of the report the afternoon of Jan. 17, or after the Surgeon General's office has made the report available to the public.