IU Cancer Center Opens Tobacco Cessation Program

INDIANAPOLIS -- A comprehensive clinical and counseling program to help tobacco users kick the habit has opened at the Indiana University Cancer Center.

The Nicotine Dependence Program is a state-of-the-art smoking and tobacco cessation program staffed by doctors and counselors from the I.U. schools of medicine and dentistry.

Participants are seen in the Indiana Cancer Pavilion on the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis campus. Individuals who live outside of the county or cannot make the trip for health reasons may receive counseling services over the telephone. The program is an expansion of a successful tobacco cessation program initiated at the I.U. School of Dentistry five years ago by Arden G. Christen, D.D.S.

Dr. Christen and Stephen J. Jay, M.D., a pulmonologist and an assistant dean at the IU School of Medicine, are the co-directors of the expanded program. Deborah M. Hudson, B.S., R.R.T., is the program coordinator.

Individualized treatment plans are developed based on the needs of the smoker or tobacco user. In addition to dealing with the physical addiction to nicotine, ongoing counseling and education sessions address the psychological and behavioral changes needed to break long-term patterns.

As part of an education institution, the Nicotine Dependence Program will have a more comprehensive mission than just helping smokers quit smoking. The program will serve as a research center for tobacco cessation, including clinical trials for pharmacological agents which may help smokers and other tobacco users break their addiction. The program also will provide educational programs for physicians and other health care professionals on the most effective ways to help others stop smoking and it will serve as an information resource center for Hoosiers.

For additional information or to enroll in the program, call 317-278-3981.

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