Find cutting edge cancer clinical trials near you using the new Victorian Cancer Trials Link.

Search now

Tobacco control researchers

Ron Borland PhD. MAPS

Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention

Ron BorlandTrained in psychology, Ron has worked in tobacco control since shortly after joining the (then) Anti-Cancer Council's Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer in 1986. He was the Inaugual Director of VCTC, a position he relinquished in 2004 when he took up his current position.

Ron has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, most on topics in tobacco control. Ron's expertise covers much of tobacco control. He has an international reputation for his work on smoking cessation and on evaluating the impact of policy changes and programs (including media campaigns) on smokers.

Hua Yong, PhD

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Hua has a background in psychology and joined Cancer Council Victoria in 2003. He's published over 50 peer-reviewed papers, mostly on topics in tobacco control.

He works primarily on two international collaborative research projects, the International Tobacco Control 4-Country Survey (ITC-4) and the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia Survey (ITC-SEA).

The ITC-4 is a longitudinal study conducted on nationally representative sample of over 9,000 respondents from 4 countries (Australia, Canada, US, and UK) which commenced in October 2002 with annual follow-up.

The ITC-SEA is a parallel study that began in early 2005 conducted in 2 developing countries (Malaysia and Thailand). The principal aim of both projects is to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioural effects of national and sub-national tobacco control policies on smokers in these countries. Hua's major research interests include understanding the determinants of smoking cessation and relapse, how post-quitting experiences change over time and whether they predict smoking relapse, the role of normative beliefs about smoking on quitting activity, and the role of cultural factors like religion in motivating smokers to quit.

Lin Li, PhD, MPH

Behavioural Scientist

Dr. Lin Li was trained both in China and Australia. He received his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in 1999 from the West China University of Medical Sciences. Supported by a Ford Foundation international fellowship he did his PhD in population health at the University of Melbourne from 2004 to 2007.

Lin worked at the Sichuan Provincial Center for Disease Control in southwest China from 1992 and had led the organising and directing unit in its Health Education Institute between 1999 and 2003. He joined Cancer Council Victoria in 2007 and has worked as a researcher at the VCTC since then. Lin has been actively involved in evaluating the impact of the policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), both in developing and developed countries.

He has been an active member of the research teams in the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) China Project, ITC Four Country Project and ITC Southeast Asia Project.

In addition to research, Lin has been actively involved in capacity building. For many years he has been supervising postgraduate and undergraduate students. He has successfully conducted several capacity building workshops on tobacco control research in China and is good at transferring his considerable research skills (especially skills in analysing longitudinal data and conducting cross-country comparison) to more junior members of the ITC team.

Dr. Li has effectively presented his research work at various international conferences, including the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, the 11th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine (as a Master Panelist), the annual conferences of the Global Health Council, the Society of Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, the Cross-Strait Conference on Tobacco Control, and the Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health. He was a Scientific Program Committee member of the 9th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health. He also acts as a reviewer for international journals such as Addiction, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, and Tobacco Control.

He has authored/co-authored over 30 scientific publications, both in English and Chinese.

Timea Partos, BSc

Research Officer

Timea has a background in psychology and joined the Cancer Council in May 2010. She has worked on a number of collaborative research projects using data from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Study. Her recent peer-reviewed publications have investigated the prevalence of unsuccessful quitting activity among adult smokers in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia; the systematic biases associated with recalling past quit attempts; the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on smoking cessation outcomes among Australian smokers; and the role of cigarette packet warning labels in helping prevent relapse among recent ex-smokers.

Her current research interests include the differential predictors of making quit attempts versus long-term success, and the impact that prior quit attempts have on subsequent quitting outcomes. 

Elena Swift, MRes

Research Assistant

Elena joined Cancer Council Victoria in March 2012 to help with a new clinical trial for an online program delivering tailored smoking cessation advice. She'll also be working on the International Tobacco Control 4-Country Survey. She has a background in psychology.