Matthew Carpenter, Ph.D.
Faculty Profile
carpente@musc.edu
Dr. Carpenter is the Flora McLeod Edwards Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research and a tenured professor. He is Associate Director for Behavioral and Population Science at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, and also serves as co-director of the Tobacco Research Program. His primary body of research falls into three thematic areas. The first focuses on randomized trials of medication sampling, a pragmatic and scalable behavioral exercise that allows smokers to get further engaged in the cessation process. His teams have conducted a number of trials, often large scale and nationwide, to evaluate medication sampling among smokers across the motivational spectrum.
A second theme of his work is to apply the same naturalistic product sampling approach, within a randomized design (minimizing self-selection bias), to evaluate the effects of alternative products, namely e-cigarettes. This design allows examination of naturalistic yet causal effects of e-cigarettes on uptake, outcomes, and biomarkers. A third theme is more methodological, and derives from the first two.
Throughout these large scale, remote clinical trials, his team continues to push the envelope for what can be done remotely, and how it can be done. New mHealth tools allow researchers to reach large and varied study samples (external validity) while maintaining the methodological rigor (internal validity) that all trials must balance. These tools became much more popular during COVID, but have only opened the doors of possibility to what lies ahead for clinical research.
Across these themes, Dr. Carpenter led a wide range of large scale randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on: 1) smoking reduction (N=616), 2) several trials of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) sampling (Ns=849, 157, 1245) and 3) alternative tobacco products (N=1236). He recently led what we believe is the largest (N=638) naturalistic clinical trial of e-cigarettes in the U.S. These pragmatic trials test the real-world impact of providing sampling (NRT or e-cigarettes) to smokers.
Throughout, Dr. Carpenter is keen on trainee development, encouraging a long line of trainees to develop their own science (primary mentor for F32, K07, K01, 2 K23s, 3 American Cancer Society and various NIH Loan Repayment Program recipients) and progress in their own professional careers (>6 prior trainees now in academia). He has served on several NIH study sections, including several as chair. As of January 2022, he took on a role as NIH Center for Scientific Review Advisory Committee Member.
Tracy Smith, Ph.D.
Faculty Profile
smithtra@musc.edu
Dr. Smith is an associate professor in the Addiction Sciences Division of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She also serves as co-leader of the Cancer Prevention & Control Research Program within MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. The goal of Dr. Smith’s research is to reduce the harms associated with smoking, with a focus on regulatory science. One arm of her research has focused on tobacco regulations that can reduce the appeal and addictiveness of combustible tobacco — the most harmful form of tobacco. This includes a decade of research related to reducing the nicotine level within cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, and new research investigating the impact of banning menthol within cigarettes.
Another arm of Dr. Smith’s research focuses on the impact of non-combustible tobacco products on public health, including both their potential to serve as harm reduction tools for current smokers and their potential to increase harm for youth and non-smokers who initiate tobacco use with these products. Dr. Smith is currently conducting several trials that test the impact of e-cigarettes on smoking behavior and smoking abstinence among current smokers.
Dr. Smith is passionate about mentoring and works with trainees at a variety of levels, including high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, psychology interns, and postdoctoral fellows.
