A quilt of inequalities
Here at the CCPH, we are often labeled substance use researchers — alcohol researchers and, most often for me, a tobacco researcher. This is mostly because our research is framed around the goal of ameliorating tobacco- or alcohol-related inequities. Don’t get me wrong – we are passionate about working towards …
Learning From LGBTQIA+ Young Adults
Over the summer we produced a science communication report for a study investigating tobacco use among LGBTQIA+ young adults that we’re currently wrapping up. The study, funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) of the University of California, continues our research interest in understanding tobacco-related inequities for LGBTQIA+ young …
Science Communication in the Age of COVID-19
The Center for Critical Public Health had the pleasure of sponsoring Vaishnavi Kurupath as a 2022 Summer Intern. She was tasked with conducting a narrative literature review on Science Communication for the CCPH. Vaishnavi is currently a senior at American High School in Fremont, California, and interested in studying intersectional …
It’s Complicated: Harm Reduction Through Nicotine & Tobacco Use
Discussions among participants about the ways nicotine and tobacco (NT) products relate to the use of other substances has been a recurring topic in our recent tobacco harm reduction study. For participants this included the co-use of NT with other substances (like alcohol making cigarettes more enjoyable) and the use …
Community, Resources
CC BY-NC-ND via Center for Critical Public Health Recently Center for Critical Public Health got the opportunity to have a table at the Pride in the Park Health and Wellness Fair. Happy 4th Anniversary and a huge thanks to the Oakland LGBTQ Center for organizing the event and welcoming us …
Taking care
Image by Alan Johnson @maklvane “I hope you are taking good care during these stressful and uncertain times.” We’ve all likely received many emails containing this phrase in the past year. What does it mean to take good care and maintain wellbeing in general? During a pandemic? During a prolonged …
Safer spaces
In 2018 and 2019, we conducted 200 interviews with LGBTQ+ young adults in the San Francisco Bay Area to understand their experiences within social contexts of drinking and intoxication. The idea of “safe spaces” was a recurrent theme throughout the interviews. Participants stressed the need for safe congregation among queer …
Pandemic stress & tobacco harm reduction
Candy is a queer, nonbinary Iranian person living in Oakland and working remotely as a teacher. Their former use of cigarettes was strongly associated with situations where they felt heightened anxiety. In these instances, Candy utilized cigarette smoking as a tool to take some space away from the situation and …
App That Converts Air Pollution Into Cigarettes
This Lifehacker post is from 2018 so perhaps y’all are already aware, but my partner just alerted me to the existence of an app entitled “Sh**t! I Smoke.” Thought it was especially relevant to share here in the Bay Area given the current climate (literally), and even moreso considering the …
Women of Color Being Policed
Between 2017 and 2018, we conducted 49 interviews with young Black and Latina women in the San Francisco Bay Area about their perceptions and experiences of the police. This study came on the heels of nationwide outrage about countless police killings of Black men, including Philando Castile and Alton Sterling …