Liz Klein, PhD, MPH
Chair and Professor
Health Behavior and Health Promotion
“I consider myself a public health 'lifer,' having focused my education and career on the research and practice of disease prevention. Growing up in a time and place where tobacco use was the norm, I wanted to learn how to prevent nicotine addiction and promote cessation. While we have made amazing strides in the adoption of tobacco control policies since those early days of smoking in airplanes, movie theaters and restaurants, we still have substantial work to do in order to reduce the burden of death and disease from tobacco.”
Biography
Liz joined the College of Public Health faculty in 2008 and has been actively involved in public health since 1995. Her academic background is in behavioral epidemiology, and her research and practice experiences in public health focus around the primary prevention of chronic disease. She has worked in research and in practice in a range of settings and makes efforts to bring her real-world experiences into the classroom to help students make the academic-practice connection. Teaching the next generation of public health professionals is a key part of her professional duties.
The theme of her research agenda is the use of a multi-level, social-ecological approach in the prevention or reduction of tobacco use, with a particular interest in understanding the role of policy, systems and environmental change (PSEC) strategies and their influence on population health behavior. Her work has been greatly influenced by the social-ecological model and its five levels of influence on human behavior: individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and policy. Her work focuses heavily on youth and young adults. She has expanded this focus most recently to include other vulnerable populations at high risk for tobacco use, including low-income individuals and underserved rural residents.
Education
- PhD
- Behavioral Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 2007
- MPH
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, 2002
- BS
- Community Health Education, Western Michigan University, 1995
Research interests
Tobacco control; primary prevention of chronic disease; social determinants of health, Policy, systems and environmental change; primary prevention; public health evaluation
Vickerman, K.A.; Carpenter, K.M.; Mullis, K.; Shoben, A.B.; Nemeth, J.; Mayers, E.; Klein, E.G. (2025) Quitline-based young adult vaping cessation: A randomized clinical trial examining NRT and mHealth:. Am J Prev Med. 68(2): 366-376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2024.10.019
Klein, E.G.; Driscoll, A.E.; Shoben, A.B.; Macisco, J.M.; Pike Moore, S.; Quisenberry, A.J.; Trapl, E.S. (2024). Cigar-specific health warnings: Attention, recall, and perceived effectiveness among young adult users and non-users. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 21, 1442. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21111442 Pike Moore, S.; Ennis, A.; Kirihara, S.; Gomez, E.; Reyes-Klein, M.; Sharp, H.; Macisco, J.; Trapl, E.; Quisenberry, A.; Klein, E.G. (2024) Visual attention and recall of flavored cigarillo package elements among young adults. PLOS Glob Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003840
Figueroa, W.; Jankowski, E.; Curran, H.; Ennis, A.C.; Poteat, T.; Morgan, E.; Klein, E.G.; Reczek, R.; Patterson, J. (2024) Minority stressors and tobacco use among a US sample of sexual and gender minority young adults. Drug Alcohol Depend. 261;1111356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111356
Klein, E.G.; Shoben, A.G.; Carpenter, K.M.; Mullis, K.; Nemeth, J.; Mayers, E.; Vickerman, K.A. Characteristics of young adult exclusive e-cigarette users accessing a randomized trial quitline program for vaping cessation. (2024) Int J Environ Res Public Health. 21(6): 809. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21060809 Glasser, A.M.; Nemeth, J.M.; Quisenberry, A.J.; Shoben, A.B.; Trapl, E,S.; Klein, E.G. (2023) The role of cigarillo flavor in the co-use of cigarillos and cannabis among young adults. Sub Use Misuse. 58(5) 717-727. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2023.2184206
Roberts, M.E.; Tackett, A.; Singer, J.; Wagner, D.; Lu, B.; Wagener, T.; Brinkman, M.; Klein, E.G.; Vickerman, K.; Wold, L.; Gumina, R.; Mohler, P. (2022) Dual Use of E-cigarettes and Cannabis among Young People in America: A New Public Health Hurdle? J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 83(5): 768-770: DOI: https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.22-00027. Klein, E.G.; Koopman Gonzalez, S.; Pike Moore, S.; Bohnert, E.J.; Quisenberry, A.J.; Trapl, E. (2021). Pulling your mask down to smoke: Qualitative themes from young adults on nicotine use during a pandemic. Sub Use Misuse. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2020.1869264