Congratulations to Dr. Cheryl Oncken, associate professor of medicine, who just received a five-year, $4 million federal grant to study whether an exercise program can help postmenopausal women quit smoking, abstain from cigarettes, and improve their overall health. The study is being done in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and will recruit about 300 postmenopausal women. The researchers will use the Health Center’s Powerful Aging exercise program. All participants will receive smoking treatment of behavioral counseling and the medication varenicline and then be randomly assigned to either a supervised exercise program or a supervised relaxation control program.
Dr. Oncken is a nationally recognized expert on smoking cessation, who received the grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Well done Dr. Oncken!