About

Andrew A. Strasser, Ph.D., is a Research Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. He serves as the Director of the Biobehavioral Smoking Laboratory within the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, he is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Strasser is also a Program Co-Leader for the Tobacco and Environmental Carcinogenesis Program at the Abramson Cancer Center and holds a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School for Communication. His educational background includes a B.A. in General Arts and Sciences, a P.Bac. in Pre-Medicine, and a Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health, all from Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on tobacco use, nicotine addiction, and communication strategies related to tobacco products. He has contributed to understanding the effects of reduced nicotine cigarettes, perceptions of harm related to tobacco and nicotine products, and social media messaging for vaping prevention among youth. Dr. Strasser's work involves interdisciplinary approaches combining behavioral health, communication, and public health to address tobacco-related issues.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Anesthesia
• Psychology
• Pharmacology
• Physiology
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and smoking outcomes: a geolocation study

  2025-03-21

  preprintOpen access

  Importance: The tobacco industry spends over $8 billion annually in the United States on marketing at the point-of-sale. Exposure to tobacco retail has been associated with smoking outcomes, but few studies have objectively logged day-to-day, real-world tobacco retail exposure and linked exposure to smoking outcomes, which can provide insight into dynamic associations.Objective: To assess pre-registered hypotheses that individuals report greater craving and cigarettes smoked on days when their objectively logged retail exposure is higher than usual. Design: A 14-day within-person observational study combining geolocating tracking, public tobacco-retail location records, and ecological momentary assessment. Data collection occurred from 2022 to 2024.Setting: A remote study including participants statewide in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.Participants: Main eligibility criteria were: aged 21-65 years, smoked at least five cigarettes per day for the previous six months, owned an iPhone or Android smartphone, and a resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. Participants were selected via convenience sampling. A total of 310 participants enrolled and 273 participants were included in the final analysis.Exposure: To assess tobacco retail exposure, mobility data collected objectively via geolocation tracking was matched with locations of tobacco retailers across three states.Main Outcomes and Measures: Daily average craving and daily number of cigarettes smoked, reported via ecological momentary assessment.Results: Multilevel models revealed support for both pre-registered hypotheses. On days when individuals had more tobacco marketing exposure than their usual baseline, they reported significantly higher levels of craving (b = 0.04, t(3,456.79) = 2.56, p = 0.01) and smoking significantly more cigarettes (b = 0.01, t(3,469) = 2.47, p = 0.01).Conclusions and Relevance: People’s environments shape their feelings and behaviors. Exposure to tobacco retail in the real-world is associated with increases in craving and smoking. Findings highlight the significance of retail exposure in relation to smoking, information that is critical for developing effective tobacco control interventions.

  PublisherDOI

• Using ecological momentary assessment, geolocation tracking, and neuroimaging to assess effects of tobacco retail exposure on smoking behavior: Protocol for the GeoSmoking Study

  2025-05-05 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Background: Cigarettes are a global public health concern, as cigarette smoking is the leading cause of death in the US and throughout most high-income countries. Exposure to tobacco retail has been linked to adverse smoking outcomes, but research utilizing naturalistic and causal approaches to quantify these effects in the real world remains relatively sparse. To address this, the study used geolocation tracking, ecological momentary assessment, and neuroimaging to assess smoking outcomes in daily life, and conducted a randomized controlled trial focused on the effects of exposure to tobacco retail.Objective: The GeoSmoking Study aimed to evaluate: (1) within-person associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and cigarette craving and smoking; (2) causal effects of real-world tobacco retail exposure; and (3) neural cue reactivity as a mechanism for real-world tobacco retail effects.Methods: In a two-week baseline period, the study collected reports of craving and smoking multiple times per day using ecological momentary assessment, in addition to other measures. Simultaneously, geolocation tracking was used to quantify tobacco retail exposure, through creation of a tobacco retail database across three U.S. states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). A four-week intervention period followed, in which participants were randomly assigned to make a purchase at either a non-tobacco retail store five days per week (non-tobacco retail condition), a tobacco retail store five days per week (tobacco retail condition), or follow their normal routines (control condition). An optional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session concluded the study. Individuals participated remotely, unless they opted in to the fMRI session, which was completed at the University of Pennsylvania.Results: The GeoSmoking Study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pennsylvania. Data collection started on May 25, 2022 and ended on June 10, 2024. In total, 310 participants were enrolled, 282 participants completed the baseline phase, 244 participants completed the intervention phase, and 24 participants completed the optional fMRI scan.Conclusions: This study protocol was implemented successfully. Findings from planned analyses may have significant implications for our understanding of health behaviors and outcomes, as well as policy.Trial Registration: Cancer Prevention through Neural and Geospatial Examination of Tobacco Marketing Effects in Smokers: 1R01CA229305-01A1; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04279483

  PublisherDOI

• Associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and smoking outcomes: a geolocation study

  2025-02-27

  preprintOpen access

  Importance: The tobacco industry spends over $8 billion annually in the United States on marketing at the point-of-sale. Exposure to tobacco retail has been associated with smoking outcomes, but few studies have objectively logged day-to-day, real-world tobacco retail exposure and linked exposure to smoking outcomes, which can provide insight into dynamic associations.Objective: To assess pre-registered hypotheses that individuals report greater craving and cigarettes smoked on days when their objectively logged retail exposure is higher than usual. Design: A 14-day within-person observational study combining geolocating tracking, public tobacco-retail location records, and ecological momentary assessment. Data collection occurred from 2022 to 2024.Setting: A remote study including participants statewide in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.Participants: Main eligibility criteria were: aged 21-65 years, smoked at least five cigarettes per day for the previous six months, owned an iPhone or Android smartphone, and a resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. Participants were selected via convenience sampling. A total of 310 participants enrolled and 273 participants were included in the final analysis.Exposure: To assess tobacco retail exposure, mobility data collected objectively via geolocation tracking was matched with locations of tobacco retailers across three states.Main Outcomes and Measures: Daily average craving and daily number of cigarettes smoked, reported via ecological momentary assessment.Results: Multilevel models revealed support for both pre-registered hypotheses. On days when individuals had more tobacco marketing exposure than their usual baseline, they reported significantly higher levels of craving (b = 0.04, t(3,456.79) = 2.56, p = 0.01) and smoking significantly more cigarettes (b = 0.01, t(3,469) = 2.47, p = 0.01).Conclusions and Relevance: People’s environments shape their feelings and behaviors. Exposure to tobacco retail in the real-world is associated with increases in craving and smoking. Findings highlight the significance of retail exposure in relation to smoking, information that is critical for developing effective tobacco control interventions.

  PublisherDOI

• The Impact of Nicotine Reduction on Cigarette Reinforcement Value Within a Marketplace Containing Alternative Nicotine Delivery Products: A Secondary Analysis of a Multi-Site Trial

  Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2025-07-04

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: A mandated reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes would likely improve public health. Prior research has shown that assignment to very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes reduces the reinforcement value of cigarettes. However, no studies have evaluated changes in reinforcement for smoking after experience with VLNC cigarettes in a marketplace where noncombusted nicotine products are available. AIMS AND METHODS: Adult participants who smoke cigarettes (n = 438) were randomized 1:1 to VLNC or normal nicotine content cigarettes for 12 weeks. Participants purchased products using points valued at $1 from an experimental tobacco marketplace that contained study cigarettes and noncombusted nicotine products. At the 12-week visit, participants completed hypothetical purchase tasks for each product. Demand parameters were calculated, including intensity (consumption when product is free), breakpoint (price when consumption is reduced to zero), Pmax (price that produces maximum daily spending), Omax (maximum amount spent in a single day), and α (rate of change in consumption across the demand curve). RESULTS: Assignment to VLNC cigarettes reduced demand for study cigarettes across all parameters, and reduced demand for usual brand cigarettes for intensity and breakpoint, but not other parameters. Assignment to VLNC cigarettes increased Omax for e-cigarettes, but not other demand parameters. There were no significant differences in demand parameters for other products. CONCLUSIONS: A mandated reduction in cigarette nicotine content is likely to reduce the reinforcement value of cigarettes in a marketplace where noncombusted products are available, which may drive reductions in the prevalence of smoking and shift people who smoke toward noncombusted products. IMPLICATIONS: This is the first study to show that assignment to VLNC cigarettes along with access to noncombusted nicotine products reduces reinforcement value for both low nicotine and normal nicotine cigarettes, and may increase the reinforcement value of e-cigarettes. These results suggest that a mandated reduction in nicotine will decrease the prevalence of smoking and may increase the use of other noncombusted products.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impact of Cigarillo Text Warning Presence and Size on Young Adults’ Cigarillo Risk Beliefs, Knowledge, Appeal, and Use Intentions

  Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2025-04-03

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: Cigar warning labels can serve as health communication tools; yet current cigar warnings in the United States can be small or absent, and efforts to standardize them have met industry resistance, partly because of limited research. AIMS AND METHODS: In 2021, we conducted an online 3 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment with 1352 young adults (aged 18-34) past 12-month cigar users. Participants viewed a cigarillo pack image that varied by: text-only warning size (none; small 15%-of-pack label; larger 30%-of-pack label); warning color (White; Black); and brand (Swisher Sweets; White Owl). We compared group means on risk perceptions, knowledge, and intentions. RESULTS: Packs with any warning label (vs. none) elicited higher endorsement that the packs made participants think about the health risks of smoking cigarillos (p < .001), as did packs with larger 30%-of-pack versus 15%-of-pack warnings (p < .001). Packs with a warning label (vs. without) elicited greater absolute perceptions of cigarillo harm (p < .001), as did 30%-of-pack versus 15%-of-pack warnings (p < .001). Risks referenced in the stimuli warning (mouth and throat cancer) were more frequently mentioned in an open-ended knowledge item by participants in conditions with a warning label versus the no-warning condition (p < .05). Packs with 30%-of-pack warnings were also rated as less attractive and elicited lower use intentions than packs without a warning or with the 15%-of-pack warning (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Results provide evidence that cigar text-only warning labels, particularly larger ones, can facilitate some cigar risk knowledge and beliefs, reduce pack appeal, and discourage product interest, supporting policy efforts to strengthen cigar warning requirements. IMPLICATIONS: Our results suggest that the use of the small text warnings on cigarillo packs (~15% of pack size), as currently still found in the United States based on existing Federal Trade Commission agreement guidelines, is better than having no warnings at all, but that larger warnings sized at 30% of the pack (as proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and voluntarily used by some brands/manufacturers) could have significant benefits across a range of outcomes. Study findings lend support for the cigar warning requirements proposed by the U.S. FDA through the Deeming Rule.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial and ethnic variation in perceived relative harm of tobacco and nicotine products: an experimental study

  BMJ Public Health · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Introduction: Converging lines of research indicate that the public misinterprets the relative harms associated with different tobacco and nicotine products. These misperceptions may contribute to persistent tobacco-related health disparities. To inform regulatory actions in a growing tobacco market, it is essential to understand how harm perceptions differ across tobacco and nicotine products among racial and ethnic groups to ultimately decrease disparities. Methods: An online sample (n=897) of US adults completed a discrete choice experiment, known as a Maximum Difference Likelihood task, which is an orthogonally balanced approach designed to assess harm perceptions of 18 tobacco products that span a risk continuum. Participants selected the most and least harmful products. We estimated probability-scaled relative harm perception scores using a multinomial logit hierarchical Bayesian analysis. We then conducted linear regressions to look at differences by race and ethnicity using estimated marginal means and contrasts for each product while controlling for smoking status, age and sex. Results: The analyses revealed that participants' harm perceptions do not align with the established scientific literature for combustibles, smokeless tobacco and non-combustible tobacco products. We observed low harm perceptions for products with high population rates of use, such as cigarillos and little cigars for non-Hispanic (NH) Black or African American, and Latino individuals. We observed high harm perceptions for products with low population use, such as plug tobacco for NH Asian individuals, e-cigarettes for NH Black or African American and Latino individuals and nicotine replacement therapy for NH Black or African Americans. Conclusion: Given the known tobacco-related health disparities among people of color, our results underscore the need to correct the tobacco product harm misperceptions among certain races and ethnicities, such as NH Black or African Americans, Latinos, NH Asians and NH Indigenous or mixed-race individuals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Naturalistic Tobacco Retail Exposure and Smoking Outcomes in Adults Who Smoke Cigarettes Daily

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-09-29 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: The tobacco industry spends more than $8 billion annually in the US on marketing at the point of sale. Exposure to tobacco retail has been associated with smoking outcomes, but substantially less is known about how objectively logged everyday tobacco retail exposure is associated with smoking outcomes. Objective: To assess preregistered hypotheses that individuals would report (1) greater craving and (2) more cigarettes smoked on days when their exposure to tobacco retail is higher than usual. Design, Setting, and Participants: This multimodal, within-person cohort study combined objectively logged geolocation tracking, public tobacco retail location records, and ecological momentary assessment data. Eligible participants recruited from the GeoSmoking Study were aged 21 to 65 years, smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day over the previous 6 months, owned a smartphone, and were a resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. Data were collected from May 25, 2022, to June 10, 2024. Exposure: Exposure to tobacco retail stores was assessed using mobility data matched with locations of tobacco retailers across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Main Outcomes and Measures: Daily mean craving and daily number of cigarettes smoked were computed using ecological momentary assessment. Results: A total of 273 participants were included in the final analyses (mean [SD] age, 42.5 [10.7] years; 151 women [55.3%]). Multilevel models revealed support for both preregistered hypotheses. On days when individuals had more tobacco retail exposure than their own average, they reported significantly higher levels of craving (b = 0.04; 95% CI, 0.01-0.07; t3457 = 2.72; P = .01) and smoking significantly more cigarettes (b = 0.01; 95% CI, 0.0002-0.01; t3469 = 2.05; P = .04). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of individuals who smoke cigarettes daily, exposure to tobacco retail in their everyday lives was associated with increases in craving and smoking. These findings highlight the importance of retail exposure and smoking outcomes, information that is critical for developing effective tobacco control interventions and lays the foundation for broader health research on environmental factors that shape health behaviors.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and smoking outcomes: a geolocation study

  2025-03-26

  preprintOpen access

  Importance: The tobacco industry spends over $8 billion annually in the United States on marketing at the point-of-sale. Exposure to tobacco retail has been associated with smoking outcomes, but substantially less is known about how objectively logged day-to-day, real-world tobacco retail exposure is linked to smoking outcomes. Objective: To assess pre-registered hypotheses that individuals report greater craving and cigarettes smoked on days when their objectively logged retail exposure is higher than usual. Design: A 14-day within-person observational study combining objectively logged geolocation tracking, public tobacco-retail location records, and ecological momentary assessment. Data collection occurred from 2022 to 2024. Setting: A multimodal study including participants statewide in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Participants: Main eligibility criteria were: aged 21-65 years, smoked at least five cigarettes per day for the previous six months, owned an iPhone or Android smartphone, and a resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. Participants were selected via convenience sampling. A total of 310 participants enrolled.Exposure: To assess tobacco retail exposure, mobility data collected objectively via geolocation tracking was matched with locations of tobacco retailers across three states. Main Outcomes and Measures: Daily average craving and daily number of cigarettes smoked, reported via ecological momentary assessment. Results: A total of 273 participants were included in the final analyses (151 [55.3%] women; 175 [64.1%] white; mean [SD] age, 42.46 [10.69] years). Multilevel models revealed support for both pre-registered hypotheses. On days when individuals had more tobacco retail exposure than their usual baseline, they reported significantly higher levels of craving (b = 0.04, t(3,456.79) = 2.56, p = 0.01) and smoking significantly more cigarettes (b = 0.01, t(3,469) = 2.47, p = 0.01).Conclusions and Relevance: People’s environments shape their feelings and behaviors. Exposure to tobacco retail in the real-world is associated with increases in craving and smoking. Findings highlight the significance of retail exposure in relation to smoking, information that is critical for developing effective tobacco control interventions, and lays foundations for broader health research on environmental factors shaping health behaviors.

  PublisherDOI

• A secondary analysis of the effects of IQOS use on cigarette smoking: Do the effects differ by sex?

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2025-08-22

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  INTRODUCTION: Through secondary data analyses, we investigated sex differences in the effects of IQOS, a heated tobacco product, on combustible cigarette smoking. METHODS: Adults who smoke cigarettes (N = 118; 21-65 years old) completed a baseline ad-lib smoking period (days 1-5), two laboratory visits (days 6-7), and a 14-day period where they were instructed to switch from smoking cigarettes to using IQOS 3.0 (days 8-21). Models estimated the changes in cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) and the percentage of baseline CPD substituted by HeatSticks during the switch period. Bivariate statistics assessed sex differences in covariates and IQOS-associated effects (i.e., subjective reward, relative reinforcing value, craving relief, and withdrawal relief) for model inclusion. RESULTS: Males and females significantly reduced their CPD to 29.8 % and 21.8 % of their baseline CPD by the end of the switch period, respectively. CPD slopes were significant for males (β =-0.46/day [CI95 % -0.97 to -0.04] p = 0.002) and females (β =-0.83/day [CI95 % -1.34 to -0.31] p < 0.001), although slopes did not significantly differ (p = 0.3). Males and females substituted HeatSticks at 83.2 % and 67.4 % of their baseline CPD across the switch period. The IQOS slopes were significant for males (β =1.136/day [CI95 % 0.59-2.14] p = 0.001) but not females (β =0.64/day [CI95 % -0.67-1.94] p = 0.34), although the slopes did not significantly differ (p = 0.36). There were no significant sex differences in IQOS-associated effects (all p values > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Males and females do not appear to differ in IQOS-associated effects or the initial substitutability of IQOS for combustible cigarettes.

  PublisherDOI

• Corrigendum to Reduced nicotine in cigarettes in a marketplace with alternative nicotine systems: randomized clinical trial

  The Lancet Regional Health - Americas · 2025-09-27

  erratumOpen access

  [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100796.].

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01CA180929

  NIH · $1.8M · 2018

• Administrative Core

  NIH · $38.8M · 2018–2025

• NIH Grant R01CA130961

  NIH · $2.3M · 2014

• NIH Grant R01CA120594

  NIH · $1.9M · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Melissa Mercincavage

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  61 shared

• Caryn Lerman

  USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

  54 shared

• Cristine D. Delnevo

  51 shared

• Neal L. Benowitz

  33 shared

• Joseph N. Cappella

  University of Pennsylvania

  31 shared

• Eric C. Donny

  Wake Forest University

  31 shared

• Kathy Tang

  Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control And Prevention

  27 shared

• Andrea C. Johnson

  University of Pennsylvania

  27 shared

Labs

• Biobehavioral Smoking LaboratoryPI

Awards & honors

• Distinguished Research Fellow, Annenberg Public Policy Cente…