Research Interests:
- Health communications and health policy
- Risk perceptions of nicotine and tobacco products
- Tobacco product regulation
- Product-specific tobacco education
- Risk communication
- International tobacco research and regulation
Biography
Maansi Bansal-Travers, PhD currently works as a Research Scientist in the Department of Health Behavior at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Nutrition and Food Management from The Ohio State University, and her Masters degree in Epidemiology and Doctorate in Epidemiology and Community Health from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She also serves on the Tobacco Control Advisory Board for the New York State Department of Health.
Dr. Bansal-Travers currently directs the Health Communications Testing Lab, in the Department of Health Behavior, which focuses on testing materials, including cigarette pack design variations, print messages, and television ads, using Web surveys, focus groups, and eye-tracking methodology, to help produce the most salient and effective health communications campaigns. Her research interests include exploring areas of misperceptions held by smokers about cigarette package design, health warning labels, product characteristics, and the health effects of smoking. She also works to design and evaluate materials to correct these misperceptions and promote behavior change.
Current projects that Dr. Bansal-Travers is working on include examining how smokers respond to different point-of-sale displays in the retail environment, as well as evaluating specific design characteristics and health warning labeling on tobacco packaging. She is also actively involved in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a longitudinal cohort study evaluating knowledge, beliefs and patterns of use of tobacco products among adults and youth in the U.S. Dr. Bansal-Travers also leads a tobacco-focused project, as part of the DSRIP Initiative with the Community Partners of WNY, aimed at decreasing unnecessary hospital admissions among Medicaid clients by promoting tobacco cessation. She also conducts studies to evaluate various media campaigns and materials developed by the New York State Department of Health, the Erie-Niagara Tobacco-Free Coalition, and the New York State Smokers’ Quitline.
Positions
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Associate Professor of Oncology
- Department of Health Behavior
Background
Education and Training
- PhD - Epidemiology and Community Health, State University of New York at Buffalo
- MS - Epidemiology, State University of New York at Buffalo
- BS - Human Nutrition and Food Management, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Research Overview
Dr. Bansal-Travers currently directs the Health Communications Testing Lab which focuses on testing materials including cigarette pack design variations, print messages, and television ads using Web surveys, focus groups, and eye-tracking methodology to help produce the most salient and effective health communications campaigns. Her research interests include exploring areas of misperceptions held by smokers about tobacco package design, warning labels, product characteristics, and the health effects of smoking. She also conducts focus groups to evaluate perceptions of novel tobacco products (including hookah and heat-not-burn products) and works to design and evaluate materials to correct these misperceptions and promote behavior change. Additionally, she created and maintains a comprehensive database of pack images and metadata for tobacco products sold in the US since 2003. Current projects she is working on include examining the effect of different characteristics of anti-secondhand smoke TV ads, misleading information on cigarette packs, and effective messages and pictures for health warning labels. She is currently conducting a study using mobile eye-tracking to evaluate how smokers attend to voluntary changes in tobacco point-of-sale displays in pharmacies. Dr. Bansal-Travers is also involved in the development and analysis of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a longitudinal cohort study of youth and adult tobacco users and non-users in the US, led by the FDA.
Publications
1. Hyland A, Ambrose BK, Conway KP, Borek N, Lambert E, Carusi C, Taylor K, Crosse S, Fong GT, Cummings KM, Abrams D, Pierce JP, Sargent J, Messer K, Bansal-Travers M, Niaura R, Vallone D, Hammond D, Hilmi N, Kwan J, Piesse A, Kalton G, Lorh S, Pharris-Ciurej N, Castleman V, Green VR, Tessman G, Kaufman A, Lawrence C, van Bemmel DM, Kimmel HL, Blount B, Yang L, O-Brien B, Tworek C, Alberding D, Hull LC, Cheng Y, Makaln D, Backinger CL, & Compton WM. Design and methods of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Tob Control. 2017;26(4): 371-378. PMC5299069
2. Bansal-Travers M, Hammond D, Smith P, & Cummings KM. The impact of cigarette pack design, descriptors, and warning labels on risk perception. A J Prev Med. 2011;40(6): 674-682. PMC3108248
3. Bansal-Travers M, O’Connor R, Fix BV, & Cummings KM. What do cigarette pack colors communicate to smokers in the U.S.? Am J Prev Med. 2011;40(6): 683-689. PMC3124844
4. Kasza K, Ambrose B, Conway K, Borek N, Taylor K, Goniewicz M, Cummings KM, Sharma E, Pearson J, Green V, Kaufman A, Bansal-Travers M, Travers M, Kwan J, Tworek C, Cheng Y, Yang L, Pharris-Ciurej N, Van Bemmel D, Backinger C, Compton W, & Hyland A. Tobacco-product use by adults and youths in the United States in 2013 and 2014. New Engl J Med. 2017;76: 342-353. PMC5317035
5. Sharma A, O’Connor RJ, Celestino P, Killion S, Griswold-Krupski L, Bansal-Travers M. Focus Groups and In-Depth Interviews to Guide the Development of Lung Cancer Screening Informational Materials. Journal of Cancer Education 2018 Apr. doi: 10.1007/s13187-018-1362-4.