Mary Ellen Wewers, PhD, MPH

Dr. Wewers' research specialty is tobacco cessation with special interests in underserved populations. She has conducted NIH-funded tobacco-related research since the late 1980s. She served as a member of the Expert Panel for the USPHS Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence Clinical Practice Guideline. She was the Co-Principal Investigator for the Ohio State University Center for Excellence in Regulatory Tobacco Science (funded by the National Cancer Institute (1P50CA180908 (MPI: Wewers/Shields) 2013-2019). Dr. Wewers has published widely in the area of tobacco control and in 2006, was named a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her current research includes observational and intervention studies in Ohio Appalachia.

Active Grants

NIH/NCI (MPI: Berkman/Fujita) 

Construal level as a novel pathway for affect regulation and cancer control R01 CA240452 04/01/2020-3/31/25

The goal of this project is to investigate two candidate mechanisms through which high-level construal might operate to influence smoking behaviors: down-regulation of craving and up-regulation of goal energization (i.e., motivation to quit). This goal will be accomplished in a longitudinal translational experiment with 4 conditions in a sample of persistent smokers in poverty, who are the most likely to benefit from a novel, theory-based treatment. Role: Co-Investigator 

NIH/NIDA (PI: Jackson) 

Optimizing HEALing in Ohio Communities (OHiO) UMDA049417 04/17/19-03/31-24

The overarching goal of the OHiO study is to conduct a state-wide pragmatic, community-based participatory research, stepped wedge randomized clinical trial to test the hypothesis that an integrated, data-driven and cost-efficient multi-pronged approach to evidence-based intervention delivery and access can reduce opioid deaths by 40% over a three year period. ROLE: Co-Investigator

• M.P.H., Health Care Management and Policy, Harvard School of Public Health, 1999
• Ph.D., Nursing, University of Maryland at Baltimore, 1986
• M.S., Nursing, University of Arkansas, 1980
• B.S.N., Nursing, Saint Louis University, 1972

Patterson, J.G., Hinton, A., Cooper, S.E., Wewers, M.E. (2021) Differences in quit attempts, successful quits, methods, and motivations in a longitudinal cohort of adult tobacco users by sexual orientation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Epub ahead of print. June 1: ntab116. 

Roberts, M.E., Doogan, N.J., Tanenbaum, E., Stillman, F.A., Mumford, E.A., Chelluri, D., Wewers, M.E. (2020). How should we define “rural” when investigating rural tobacco use in the United States? Substance Abuse. Epub ahead of print. Dec 15: 1-8. 

Reisinger, S., Kamel, S., Seiber, E., Klein E.G., Paskett, E.D., Wewers, M.E. (2019) Are community-based tobacco dependence treatment interventions cost-effective? Initial findings from a systematic review. Preventing Chronic Disease. 16: E161.

Mumford, E.A., Stillman, F.A., Tanenbaum, E., Doogan, N.J., Roberts, M.E., Wewers, M.E., Chelluri, D. (2019). Regional rural-urban differences in E-cigarette use and reasons for use in the United States, Journal of Rural Health. 35 (3):395-404.

Sweet, L., Brasky, T.M., Cooper, S., Doogan, N., Hinton, A., Klein, E.G., Nagaraja, H., Quisenberry, A., Xi, W., Wewers, M.E. (2019). Quitting behaviors among dual cigarette/E-cigarette users and cigarette smokers enrolled in the Tobacco User Adult Cohort (TUAC). Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 21 (3): 278-284.

Londeree, A.M., Roberts, M.E., Wewers, M.E., Peters, E., Ferketich, A.K., Wagner, D.D. (2018). Adolescent attentional bias toward real-world flavored e-cigarette marketing. Tobacco Regulatory Science. 4 (2):16-29.

Nemeth, J.M., Thomson, T., Lu, B., Peng, J., Krebs, V., Doogan, N., Ferketich, A., Post, D., Browning, C., Paskett, E., Wewers, M.E. (2018).A social-contextual investigation of smoking among rural women: multi-level factors associated with smoking status and considerations for cessation. Rural and Remote Health. 18 (1): 4338

Stillman, F.A., Tanenbaum, E., Wewers, M.E., Chelluri, D., Mumford, E.A., Groesbeck, K., Doogan, N., Roberts, M. (2018). Variations in support for secondhand smoke restrictions across diverse rural regions of the United States. Preventive Medicine. 116: 157-165.

Hinton, A., Nagaraja, H.N., Cooper, S., Wewers, M.E. (2018). Tobacco product transition patterns in rural and urban cohorts: Where do dual users go? Preventive Medicine Reports. 12:241-244.

Doogan, N. J., Roberts, M. E., Wewers, M. E., Tanenbaum, E. R., Mumford, E. A. & Stillman, F. A. (2018). Validation of a new geographic isolation scale: A tool for rural health disparities research. Social Science & Medicine. 215:123-132.

Kopp, B.T., Hinton, A., Lu, R., Cooper, S., Nagaraja, H., Wewers, M.E. (2018). Impact of presence of children on indoor tobacco restrictions in households of urban and rural adult tobacco users. Academic Pediatrics. 18: 920-927.

Doogan, N.J., Cooper, S., Quisenberry, A.J., Brasky, T.M., Browning, C.R., Klein, E.G., Hinton, A., Nagaraja, H.N., Xi, W., Wewers, M.E. (2018). The role of travel distance and price promotions in tobacco product purchase quantity. Health & Place. 51:151-157.

Brasky, T.M., Hinton, A., Doogan, N.J., Cooper S.E., Nagaraja, H.N., Xi, W., Shields, P.G., Wewers, M.E. (2018). Characteristics of the Tobacco User Adult Cohort in Urban and Rural Ohio. Tobacco Regulatory Science. 4: 614-630.

Thomson, T., Nemeth, J., Peng, J., Lu, B., Ferketich, A., Paskett, E., Wewers, M.E.  (2018). Address-Based Sampling for Recruiting Rural Subpopulations: A Two-Phase, Multi-Mode Approach. The Journal of Rural Health. 34:193-201.

Doogan, N.J., Wewers, M.E., Berman, M. (2018). The impact of a federal cigarette minimum pack price policy on cigarette use in the USA. Tobacco Control, 27(2):203-208.

Nemeth, J.M., Cooper, S., Wermert, A., Shoben, A., Wewers, M.E. (2017). The relationship between telephone services and smoking cessation among rural smokers enrolled in quitline tobacco dependence treatment. Preventive Medicine Reports. 8: 226-231.

Lam, J., Lu, B., Doogan, N., Thomson, T., Ferketich, A., Paskett, E.D., Wewers, M.E. (2017). Depression, smoking and ego-centric social network characteristics in Ohio Appalachian women. Journal of Rural Mental Health. 41, 30-14. 

Klein, E.G., Quisenberry, A.J., Shoben, A.B., Cooper, S., Ferketich, A.K., Berman, M., Peters, E., Wewers, M.E. (2017). Health warning labels for smokeless tobacco: The impact of graphic images on attention, recall, and craving. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 19, 1172-1177.

Doogan, N.J., Roberts, M.E., Wewers, M.E., Stanton, C.A., Keith, D.R., Gaalema, D.E., Kurti, A.N., Redner, R., Cepeda-Benito, A., Bunn, J.Y., Lopez, A.A., Higgins, S.T. (2017). A growing geographic disparity: Rural and urban cigarette smoking trends in the United States. Preventive Medicine. 104:79-85.

Curry, E., Nemeth, J.M., Wermert, A., Conroy, S., Shoben, A., Ferketich, A.K., Wewers, M.E. (2017). A descriptive report of electronic cigarette use after participation in a community-based tobacco cessation trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 20(1): 135-139.

Wewers, M.E., Shoben, A., Conroy, S., Curry, E., Ferketich, A.K., Murray, D.M., Nemeth, J., Wermert, A. (2017). Effectiveness of two community health worker models of tobacco dependence treatment among community residents of Ohio Appalachia. Nicotine & Tobacco Research.19(12): 1499-1507.