Donna Vallone serves as the Chief Research Officer at Truth Initiative’s Schroeder Institute and holds an Associate Professor (adjunct) appointment at the College for Global Public Health, New York University. Dr. Vallone leads a multidisciplinary team of over 30 research staff focused on examining the influence of health communication and tobacco policy initiatives to reduce tobacco use among youth and young adults. Most notably, Dr. Vallone leads the evaluation of the national youth smoking prevention truth campaign. Her research interests focus on examining the influence of media messages to reduce tobacco use, particularly among lower socioeconomic status (SES) and racial/ethnic minority groups.
As a leader in advancing our knowledge of tobacco-related disparities, Dr. Vallone served as an editor of the National Cancer Institute Tobacco Control Monograph 22: A Social Ecological Approach to Addressing Tobacco Related Health Disparities (released September, 2017). She also helped establish the Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND) and the Diversity Network, a special interest group within the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT). Dr. Vallone serves on numerous expert panels, editorial teams, and evaluation advisory committees, and is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed academic manuscripts.
Dr. Vallone holds a doctoral degree in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University and Masters’ degree in public health from New York University.