School of Public Health (SPH) Assistant Professor Dana Carroll received the 2023 Early Career Investigator Award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health. The award recognizes an early-stage investigator who is making a significant impact with their research on minority health and health disparities. One award recipient is selected each year from all early-stage, active, NIMHD career-development grantees based on their contributions to the scientific literature. The Early Career Investigator awardee is also invited to present their research at the annual Health Disparities Institute (HDI) sponsored by NIMHD.

Carroll’s research focuses on understanding and evaluating tobacco use and smoking cessation in American Indian populations, including geographic disparities among American Indian smokers, relationships between tobacco marketing exposure and commercial tobacco use, and differences in dependence on electronic cigarettes versus traditional cigarettes. She collaborates with Tribal nations and community organizations serving American Indian persons on projects examining susceptibility to cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and on the development of culturally sensitive approaches to smoking cessation. 

“It is such an honor to be named the 2023 NIMHD Early Career Investigator Award and to have my research and community engagement receive a national spotlight,” says Carroll. “This award represents the hard work and dedication of my research team and community partners. It truly “takes a village” and by that I mean an amazing group of research assistants and students, and community partners that help foster and advance our research activities. I am learning that if I keep my eyes on the overarching goal, which is to aid American Indian persons and others most impacted by commercial tobacco in achieving health equity, along the way there will be rejuvenating opportunities like this to share my experiences and the achievements of my research team and community partners.”