Tobacco treatment specialist workshops offered in fall & spring at Roswell Park

Scholarships available for weeklong program in Buffalo.

New York State Quitline Press Release

For those seeking to help people quit cigarette smoking, vaping or other tobacco product use, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center offers accredited tobacco treatment specialist (TTS) workshops twice yearly. The weeklong, on-site certification program continues this fall and next spring, with scholarships available for interested attendees.

Roswell Park TTS training program organizers encourage health care professionals and educators to enroll in these unique and engaging workshops taught by nationally recognized experts in the field of tobacco dependence treatment. The upcoming workshops take place on-site in Buffalo from Oct. 14-18, 2024 and from May 12-16, 2025.

Roswell Park is one of just 28 institutions worldwide accredited by the Council for Tobacco Treatment Training Programs to offer TTS workshops. Registration details and a scholarship application are available at www.roswellpark.org/tts or by calling 716-845-5974.

The workshop fee includes all training and course materials, as well as breakfast, lunch, beverages and snacks each day of training. The latest program offering in April included more than 40 participants from across New York, as well as new hires with the New York State Quitline, physically based at the Roswell Park campus.

Christine Sheffer, Ph.D., professor of oncology at Roswell Park, directs the TTS training program. She and other world-renowned experts in the field help trainees develop specific core competencies and skills needed to effectively treat commercial tobacco and nicotine use. The workshops include extensive discussions of the many types of tobacco and nicotine products on the market and the evolving tobacco regulatory environment.

Sheffer and her team welcome applicants from any professional background or community.

"We are particularly interested in providing scholarships to people who work in underserved communities or who work with communities experiencing tobacco-related disparities," she said. "People in some communities – including sexual and gender minority communities, low-income communities and many communities of color – for many reasons, are more likely to develop tobacco-related diseases, which makes it especially important for them to quit."

The term tobacco throughout this press release refers to the use of manufactured, combustible commercial products and vape products – not the sacred, medicinal and traditional use of tobacco by Native American nations and other Indigenous groups. 

The New York State Quitline is a service of the New York State Department of Health and based at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is one of the first and busiest state quitlines in the nation and has responded to nearly 3 million calls since it began operating in 2000. It encourages those who use commercial tobacco and vape products to talk with their health care professionals and access available Medicaid or health insurance benefits for medication support. All those who live in New York residents can contact the Quitline seven days a week for free coaching and resources. Text QUITNOW to 333888 to register for the Learn2QuitNY text messaging program, call 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487) starting at 9 a.m., or visit www.nysmokefree.com for more information.

From the world's first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. Driven to eliminate cancer's grip on humanity, the Roswell Park team of 4,000 makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York and beyond. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park was among the first three cancer centers nationwide to become a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and is the only one to hold this designation in upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@roswellpark.org.