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World No Tobacco Day 2025 – Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing industry tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine products

Published on: May 31, 2025

World No Tobacco Day 2025 – Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products.

On the World Tobacco Day observed on 31st May every year, Department of Community Medicine, HIMS, SRHU, Jollygrant, Dehradun commemorated the occasion through a series of academic and outreach activities aimed to empower healthcare professionals and educate the public on urgent need to recognize and counter the manipulative strategies employed by tobacco and nicotine industries and to promote effective tobacco control measures aligned with the global theme for World No Tobacco Day 2025, “Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products,”

A training session for MBBS interns to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills to effectively counsel individuals on tobacco cessation, support their quitting journey and understand the manipulative tactics of tobacco industry incorporating question and answer session to ensure active participation and confidence building. Dr. Anshu Prasad (SR), Dr. Twinkle Sharma (SR), Dr. Simrata Singh Dhindsa (JR) and Dr. Vidit Puri (JR) from Psychiatry department raised awareness on Fagerstrom scale which is used to assess severity of nicotine dependence in the tobacco users. They also taught the interns about methods of tobacco deaddiction.

Dr. Vaibhav Rana conducted an awareness session for the urban population, focusing on harms of tobacco use, benefits of quitting and critically to expose deceptive tactics of relevant industries, in line with World Tobacco Day 2025 theme at UTHC, Kurkawala.

Dr. Chirag Joshi’s conducted a training session and addressed the rural community, highlighting the information on locally available tobacco cessation centres and resources, importance of creating smoke-free environments, empowering individuals especially youths to resist initiation.at RHTC, Gohri Mafi.

MBBS students of batch 2022 & 2024 took a pledge to not smoke or consume any type of tobacco in their life and to motivate people around them for the same; to keep their surroundings tobacco-free.

The activities conducted by the Department of Community Medicine on World No Tobacco Day 2025 were successful in enhancing the capacity of future healthcare professionals in tobacco cessation and in raising public awareness regarding the critical issue of tobacco control, with a strong focus on “Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products.” The intern training program provided valuable skills in both cessation and in understanding industry manipulation, while the health talks effectively disseminated crucial information to the community, empowering them to make informed decisions and resist industry influences.

World No Tobacco Day 2025
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World No Tobacco Day 2025
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International Endowed Chair Professor

Prof Rakesh Kumar

Prof Rakesh Kumar is the Founder and President of the Breast Cancer in Young Women Foundation (USA), dedicated to vaddressing the distinct issues affecting young women with breast cancer. He also serves as the International Endowed Chair Professor at the Cancer Research Institute of the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences. Additionally, he holds adjunct professorships at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr Kumar earned his Ph.D. from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1984 and began his research career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in January 1986. From 1988 to 2017, he held various academic and leadership positions —including faculty member, tenured professor, distinguished professor, endowed chair, department chair, and research leader—at esteemed institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. From 2017 to 2022, he served as the National Chair for Cancer Research for the Government of India and as a distinguished professor, continuing his innovative work in breast cancer research.

With nearly 40 years of research and professional experience, Dr. Kumar has made conceptual contributions to the field of cancer research (h-index 108, citations >50,000). He has authored over 325 peer-reviewed publications, edited or co-edited nine books, and delivered 290 invited lectures worldwide. His work has been featured on the covers of 18 major cancer journals and has been highlighted in institutional research reports of the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

A passionate educator and mentor, Dr. Kumar has guided 67 trainees throughout his career. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple leading cancer journals and has served on the editorial boards of 21 top cancer journals. His global reputation is further demonstrated by his participation in about 100 peer-review panels for cancer research funding in the US and internationally over the past 28 years.

Dr. Kumar's innovative research has earned him numerous prestigious honors, including the Hinkle Society Faculty Award at Penn State University (1994), the Dalla/Fort Worth Living Legend Faculty Achievement Award in Basic Sciences (2004), the Ranbaxy Research Award (2006), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Indian Scientists in Cancer Research (2013), among others. Dr. Kumar's pioneering research continues to have a profound influence on the fields of oncology and breast cancer, opening up new opportunities for biomedical scientists and trainees worldwide.