AGENDA 2026

We are delighted to publish the provisional agenda and speakers for the 10th annual Summit and the first Nicotine Summit US.  We will be updating the program regularly over the next couple of weeks, so please check back regularly.

If you cannot join us in Washington but would like to participate virtually, the Summit will be live-streamed according to the agenda (US EST).  Individual videos of speaker presentations and panel discussions will be added to the Summit app within 48 hours of the live event, allowing delegates to watch or re-watch on demand later.  The app will be available to all registered delegates for 3 months following the event.

2025 PRESENTATION VIDEOS

SESSION 1: NICOTINE & TOBACCO POLICY

8:15 am - 8:20 am

Welcome & introductions from the Summit chair (AM)

Chair

8:20 am - 8:50 am

OPENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS WITH Q&A

Speaker

8:50 am - 9:05 am

Pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine, implications for public health

Weighing the benefits and risks of nicotine is crucial for developing effective public health policy. The primary harm of nicotine, which has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide over the past century, is its role in maintaining addiction to cigarette smoking. Non-combusted forms of nicotine are clearly much less harmful than smoking, with the level of harm influenced by the type of delivery device. The greatest potential benefit of widely accessible non-combusted nicotine products is to provide an alternative to cigarette smoking, including supporting future public policies to mandate the reduction of nicotine in cigarettes. The primary safety concerns with nicotine itself include addiction, especially among young never-smokers; adverse cardiovascular effects, particularly in people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, and reproductive toxicity. Safety concerns based on biological plausibility from animal studies — but not yet established in people— are adverse effects on brain development and the promotion of cancer. Potential benefits of nicotine, in addition to promoting or supporting smoking cessation, include providing a source of pleasure, cognitive enhancement, mood regulation, and athletic performance. A major challenge in developing optimal healthcare policies for population health is addressing the concern of adolescent nicotine addiction, which can be exacerbated by tobacco industry marketing practices.

Speaker

9:05 am - 9:20 am

Capturing total nicotine exposure in a multi-product landscape using Nicotine Product Days (NPDs)

With the popularity of noncombustible nicotine products among young people —such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches—and the decline in combustible tobacco use, it remains unclear how overall nicotine exposure and its potential long-term health risks have evolved. The standard measure used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—any tobacco product use in the past 30 days—does not account for frequency of use or differences in risk profiles across products. To more comprehensively assess nicotine exposure, we developed an innovative measure: nicotine product days (NPDs), defined as the number of days an individual used any nicotine product in the past 30 days. NPDs are additive across products and range from 0 to 30, where 0 indicates no use and 30 indicates daily use. We also constructed product-specific NPDs to reflect potential differences in health risks across nicotine products. Using all available waves of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, we examined trends in overall and risk-adjusted NPDs among US adolescents and young adults over time. In addition, we assessed how overall and risk-adjusted NPDs vary across key sociodemographic groups.

Speaker

  • Dr Ruoyan Sun Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy & Organization - School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham

9:20 am - 9:35 am

The harmfulness and the addictiveness of nicotine products: Two separate but related constructs

Speaker

  • Prof Jonathan Foulds Professor Department of Public Health Sciences Division of Health Services and Behavioral Research - Penn State Center for Research on Tobacco and Health

9:35 am - 9:50 am

A clash between two absolutist narratives: How to define success and set priorities

Speaker

  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

9:50 am - 10:15 am

Panel Discussion and Q&A

Chair

Speakers

  • Speaker TBC FDA Invited Speaker
  • Prof Neal L. Benowitz MD Professor of Medicine Emeritus (Active) - University of California, San Franciso
  • Dr Ruoyan Sun Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy & Organization - School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Prof Jonathan Foulds Professor Department of Public Health Sciences Division of Health Services and Behavioral Research - Penn State Center for Research on Tobacco and Health
  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

Guest Panelist

  • Tim Phillips Managing Director - ECigIntelligence/TobaccoIntelligence

10:15 am - 10:35 am

AM REFRESHMENT BREAK

SESSION 2: NICOTINE, INDUSTRY & SOCIETY

10:35 am - 10:50 am

Comprehensive is key: Considerations for an optimally regulated tobacco market in the United States

This presentation will discuss the comprehensive components of an optimally regulated tobacco market in the United States, including considerations related to efficient premarket review grounded in strong science, coupled with robust enforcement across the supply chain. The session will also discuss factors encompassed by the public health standard established by the Tobacco Control Act, including opportunities to mitigate initiation among non-users, particularly youth, while facilitating an evidence-based pathway by which lower-risk alternatives for adult smokers can enter the market.

Speaker

  • Dr Brian King Executive Vice President, U.S. Tobacco Control - Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

10:50 am - 11:05 am

New Zealand, an inconvenient success story

In 2009, 20% of New Zealanders smoked daily, rising to more than 40% for Māori. Slow progress prompted New Zealand’s tobacco control sector to publish a bold vision for a smokefree nation. The vision called for a suite of mainstream actions to curb tobacco uptake and increase quitting. It directly influenced the national smokefree 2025 goal. It was also unique in that nicotine and harm reduction were explicit parts of the plan, with a consensus to manage negative misconceptions about nicotine and support ‘effective and safe ways to manage nicotine addiction’, such as the sale and promotion of e-cigarettes as viable alternatives to smoking. The strategy has been successful. Daily smoking reached 6.8% in 2025. Under-18 smoking has almost been eliminated, and smoking rates for Māori have reached 14%. Almost half of the reductions occurred since 2018, when New Zealand experienced some of the fastest drops in smoking globally, linked to widespread switching to vapes. Yet despite world-leading drops in smoking and the almost complete elimination of youth uptake, why are so many branding New Zealand as a failure? What changed, and is it justified?

Speaker

11:05 am - 11:20 am

How can embracing smoking harm reduction accelerate an increase in smoking cessation in the population?

Dr Cummings will describe plans to test whether a community intervention trial focused on smoking harm reduction can increase smoking cessation in a high-poverty, high-smoking-prevalence rural community in South Carolina. He will outline the components of the intervention that he believes will be critical to generate a positive outcome for the study.

Speaker

  • Prof K. Michael Cummings Professor, Department Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences - Medical University of South Carolina

11:20 am - 11:35 am

Title & Speaker TBC

Speaker

11:35 am - 11:50 am

The tobacco/nicotine continuum of risk – e-cigarette harm perceptions and communication considerations

Several studies have documented that e-cigarettes are frequently perceived as being as harmful as or even more harmful than combusted cigarettes. Following this, there is a growing recognition in the US about the need to better inform the public about the relative risks of e-cigarettes versus cigarettes, particularly for adults who smoke cigarettes who may benefit from switching to e-cigarettes for harm reduction purposes. However, less is known about effective ways to communicate such relative risks. Dr. Wackowski will provide and discuss a snapshot of recent studies testing e-cigarette relative risk communications, and discuss considerations related to message source and product perceptions relevant for targeting and measuring.

Speaker

11:50 am - 12:05 pm

Characterising researchers’ relationships with nicotine, tobacco and vaping organisations

Despite significant transformation in the commercial nicotine and tobacco landscape, existing "conflict of interest" frameworks have not kept pace, leaving disclosure practices inconsistent and incomplete across journals and institutions. This talk presents a structured framework for classifying what are more precisely termed potentially competing interests — developed collaboratively with researchers and research users. It defines key entities, including products, organisations, and researcher–organisation relationships, and makes explicit the distinction between person-level and company-level interests, a distinction that is widely understood yet rarely formally articulated.

Speaker

  • Dr Sharon CoxDr Sharon Cox Principal Research Fellow, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University College London (UCL) - Deputy Director, Behavioural Research UK

12:05 pm - 12:35 pm

Panel Discussion and Q&A

Chair

Speakers

  • Dr Brian King Executive Vice President, U.S. Tobacco Control - Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
  • Ben YoudanBen Youdan Director - ASH New Zealand
  • Prof K. Michael Cummings Professor, Department Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences - Medical University of South Carolina
  • Dr Olivia Wackowski, PhD, MPH Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy - Rutgers University
  • Dr Sharon CoxDr Sharon Cox Principal Research Fellow, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University College London (UCL) - Deputy Director, Behavioural Research UK

12:35 pm - 1:35 pm

LUNCH BREAK

SESSION 3: POPULATIONS & PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

1:35 pm - 1:40 pm

Welcome & introductions from the Summit chair (PM)

Chair

  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

1:40 pm - 1:55 pm

Title TBC

Speaker

1:55 pm - 2:05 pm

Older adults who smoke, the forgotten population

Speaker

  • Dr Jaqueline Avila Assistant Professor in the Department of Gerontology - University of Massachusetts Boston

2:05 pm - 2:15 pm

Lung cancer screening: A window of opportunity to offer treatment proactively to older adults who smoke

Speaker

  • Dr Nancy Rigotti MDDr. Nancy A. Rigotti, MD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School - Director, Tobacco Research & Treatment Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

2:15 pm - 2:30 pm

Marginalized smokers who don’t count (Literally). Targeting high-smoking groups for cessation

We are all familiar with groups commonly identified through surveys as having the highest cigarette smoking rates in the US. These include people with low education or income, people with mental health problems, American Indians and Alaska Natives, users of other drugs, members of the LGBTQ community, and veterans. There are other groups, many including people from these populations, whose members also have very high smoking rates, but those rates are rarely, if ever, studied and never appear in national surveys. Because they are omitted from national surveys’ sampling frames, they literally don’t count. Prisoners are one example; “sofa surfers” another. This presentation will identify these groups, review what we know about their smoking, and consider why some of these groups might be excellent targets for smoking cessation initiatives. They may be especially receptive to the use of reduced-harm nicotine products as an aid to quitting smoking.

Speaker

  • Prof Ken Warner Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus - School of Public Health, University of Michigan

2:30 pm - 2:45 pm

Nicotine use trends in England: Balancing the needs of different populations

In recent years, smoking and vaping trends in England have attracted renewed attention, with debates intensifying around youth nicotine use, shifting smoking patterns among young adults, and major policy initiatives such as the Swap to Stop scheme, the disposable vape ban, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. This talk will examine how nicotine policy in England has sought to balance the needs of different populations by positioning e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to smoking and a tool for cessation, while limiting uptake among people who would otherwise not smoke. Drawing on recent data, it will review trends in nicotine use, consider how recent market developments and rising harm misperceptions have complicated this balance, and discuss how policy and communication could better support the therapeutic positioning of vaping while encouraging smokers to switch completely away from cigarettes.

Speaker

  • Prof Sarah Jackson Professorial Research Fellow, Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group - University College London (UCL)

2:45 pm - 3:10 pm

Panel Discussion and Q&A

Chair

  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

Session Responder

Speakers

  • Kathy Crosby CEO and President - Truth Initiative
  • Dr Jaqueline Avila Assistant Professor in the Department of Gerontology - University of Massachusetts Boston
  • Dr Nancy Rigotti MDDr. Nancy A. Rigotti, MD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School - Director, Tobacco Research & Treatment Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
  • Prof Ken Warner Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus - School of Public Health, University of Michigan
  • Prof Sarah Jackson Professorial Research Fellow, Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group - University College London (UCL)

3:10 pm - 3:30 pm

PM REFRESHMENT BREAK

SESSION 4: DEFINING SUCCESS & END GOALS

3:30 pm - 3:45 pm

Seeing clearly with regulatory stances: What would the world look like under different regulatory stances?

Regulation involves shaping markets to address market failure. The simplest way to understand the purpose of regulation is to state how policy aims to alter a market's size—either shrinking, expanding, or maintaining it—by applying competitive advantages or disadvantages to a sector relative to its competitors. Dr. Liber will illustrate how to use this framework, called regulatory stances, to analyse past regulatory policy changes and to envisage potential future regulatory landscapes. He argues that by establishing a clear vision of the desired market outcome, we can work backwards to identify the policy choices necessary to achieve that vision. By teaching the audience how to recognise their preferred regulatory stance towards a market, they will be better equipped to identify points of policy agreement and disagreement with colleagues. The audience will be encouraged to clarify their goals, with the aim of bringing clarity to disagreements and potentially discovering new pathways forward.

Speaker

  • Dr. Alex C. Liber Public Health Researcher - Center for Innovation in Health Policy & Practice, RTI International

3:45 pm - 4:00 pm

Title & Speaker TBC

Speaker

4:00 pm - 4:15 pm

Nicotine pouches: Will they make a difference?

Nicotine pouches are the latest consumer nicotine product with the potential to compete with cigarettes. They offer advantages such as delivering sufficient nicotine, being discreet to use, having a safety profile similar to NRT, and being validated by their tobacco-based counterpart, snus, which is gradually replacing smoking in Sweden and Norway. However, they require far greater adjustments from smokers than heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes, which mimic the sensorimotor aspects of smoking much more effectively. The presentation will first cover the history of nicotine pouches, their current use in various countries, and their nicotine delivery and effects on users. The final section will speculate on future trends in pouches, vapes, and cigarettes.

Speaker

  • Prof Peter Hajek Professor of Clinical Psychology & Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit - Wolfson Institute of Public Health, Queen Mary University of London

4:15 pm - 4:30 pm

Title & Speaker TBC

4:30 pm - 4:45 pm

Is this what success looks like? 50 years of smoking in a society where cigarettes have competed with snus and, more recently, nicotine pouches

Speaker

  • Tord Finne Vedøy Senior Researcher, Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs - Norwegian Institute of Public Health

4:45 pm - 5:00 pm

CLOSING KEYNOTE: Big questions, missing data and end goals

Speaker

5:00 pm - 5:25 pm

Panel Discussion and Q&A

Chair

  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

Speakers

  • Dr. Alex C. Liber Public Health Researcher - Center for Innovation in Health Policy & Practice, RTI International
  • Prof Peter Hajek Professor of Clinical Psychology & Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit - Wolfson Institute of Public Health, Queen Mary University of London
  • Speaker TBC
  • Tord Finne Vedøy Senior Researcher, Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs - Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  • Prof Dorothy K. Hatsukami Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - University of Minnesota

5:25 pm - 5:30 pm

Summit Closing Thoughts

Chair

  • Prof Robin MermelsteinProf Robin Mermelstein Distinguished Professor of Psychology and IHRP Director - University of Illinois, Chicago

POST SUMMIT DRINKS 5.30 – 6.30