Ron Borland received the 2020 John Slade Award

We are pleased to announce that Professor Ron Borland is the recipient of the 2020 John Slade Award. This highly prestigious award is bestowed by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and honours a senior researcher who has made outstanding contributions to public health and tobacco control through science-based public policy and public advocacy.

Professor Ron Borland PhD joined the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences in July 2019.  For the previous 33 years he has been a researcher at the Cancer Council Victoria, most recently as the Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention (since 2004). He is recognized internationally for his work, especially in tobacco control, and has served on National Committees and provided several consultancies for WHO.  He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers. He is listed in the Web of Science list of the World’s most influential scientists. He is one of the Principal Investigators of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project: an international collaboration that is analysing the impact of policies on smoking behavior. His work has led to better understanding of the challenges of preventing relapse.

He has developed a range of mass-disseminable, smoking-cessation interventions, including the QuitCoach which he has shown to be effective in randomized trials. He is also currently researching harm minimization strategies and strategies to assist highly disadvantaged, high risk prevalence groups of smokers. He has written extensively on systems approaches and ways of integrating individual level and population-focussed change. He is the developer of CEOS theory: a comprehensive theory of Hard to Maintain Behaviour Change.

Ron’s long-standing contributions to tobacco research clearly epitomise this extremely well-deserved achievement.