About Richard O'Connor
Biography:
Dr. Richard J. O'Connor is a Professor of Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. He joined Roswell Park's staff in 2004 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and was appointed Member of the Department of Health Behavior, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences in 2015. Additionally, he serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Cancer Sciences (Prevention track) doctoral program in the Roswell Park Graduate Division (University at Buffalo), Adjunct Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior, and as Research Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health with the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions.
Dr. O'Connor has authored more than 270 scientific papers on topics related to tobacco control. His program of research focuses on building the evidence base for tobacco regulatory science, with a particular focus on product-user interactions that influence behavior and risk perceptions. He is co-director of the WNY Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco Products (CRoFT), one of nine FDA and NIH supported Tobacco Centers for Regulatory Science. He is a co-investigator on the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC), which is investigating the impact of national level tobacco control policies across more than 20 different countries. He is also a project director on the NCI-funded Consortium on Methods for Evaluating Tobacco (COMET), which is currently focused on developing a regulatory evidence base around cigarette filter ventilation and its potential relationship to lung adenocarcinoma.
Positions
- Professor of Oncology
- Department of Health Behavior
- Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
- Member (Epidemiology & Prevention)
- Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Cancer Sciences - Prevention Track
- Roswell Park Graduate Division
State University of New York at Buffalo
- Research Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior
- Research Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health
- School of Public Health and Health Professions
Background
Education and Training:
- PhD - Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
- BA - Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Honors & Awards:
- Fellow, Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
Research
Research Overview:
The Tobacco Research Laboratory, which Dr. O’Connor directs, works to characterize popular products sold on the international market in terms of physical and design features, so as to provide greater insight into user-product interactions that may affect addiction and/or health outcomes. The laboratory also houses the International Tobacco Product Repository, which is creating cohort surveillance of popular tobacco products in a number of countries.
Other areas of interest include biobehavioral research methods development, nicotine dependence, and polysubstance use. He has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization and is a past member of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). He is currently a Senior Editor of Tobacco Control (JCR Impact Factor: 6.726).
Clinical Trials
Publications
Diaz D, Fix B, Caruso R, Bansal Travers M, O’Connor RJ. Worry about lung cancer is related to numeracy and risk perception of diseases associated with smoking. American Journal of Health Education. 2020;51(1):14-21. doi: 10.1080/19325037.2019.1687364.
O'Connor R, Watson CH, Swan GE, Nettles DS, Geisler RC, Hendershot TP. Phenx: Agent measures for tobacco regulatory research. Tob Control. 2020;29(Suppl 1):s20-s6. Epub 2020/01/30. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-054976. PubMed PMID: 31992660.
O'Connor RJ, Fix BV, McNeill A, Goniewicz ML, Bansal-Travers M, Heckman BW, Cummings KM, Hitchman S, Borland R, Hammond D, Levy D, Gravely S, Fong GT. Characteristics of nicotine vaping products used by participants in the 2016 itc four country smoking and vaping survey. Addiction. 2019;114 Suppl 1:15-23. Epub 2019/02/01. doi: 10.1111/add.14571. PubMed PMID: 30701622; PMCID: PMC6669098.
O'Connor R, Rousu MC, Bansal-Travers M, Vogl L, Corrigan JR. Using experimental auctions to examine demand for e-cigarettes. Nicotine Tob Res. 2017;19(6):767-72. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntw257. PubMed PMID: 27663782.
O'Connor RJ, Heckman BW, Adkison SE, Rees VW, Hatsukami DK, Bickel WK, Cummings KM. Persistence and amplitude of cigarette demand in relation to quit intentions and attempts. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016;233(12):2365-71. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4286-x. PubMed PMID: 27048156; PMCID: PMC4873449.