Abigail Carol Halperin, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Halperin received her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and completed her family medicine residency training at the University of Washington-affiliated Swedish Hospital program.

After 12 years in a Seattle-based primary care medical practice, she returned to the UW and received a master's degree in public health as a National Research Service Award (NRSA) fellow and began a research and teaching career focused on the prevention and treatment of tobacco addiction and tobacco-related diseases.

She has been an investigator on projects funded by the National Cancer Institute, NIAAA and the American Legacy Foundation to conduct research on reducing tobacco and alcohol use among young adults. She has also consulted for the World Health Organization, served on an expert panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has been a member of the strategic planning and evaluation committees for the Washington State Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

As principal investigator and program director for two ASPH/Legacy STEP-UP (Scholarship, Teaching, and Education Program for Tobacco Use Prevention) grants, she developed the Tobacco Studies Program at the University of Washington, now in its seventh year. Since 2004, she has served as the associate medical director for Free & Clear, Inc., the largest provider of tobacco quit line services for states, employers and health insurance companies in the United States, and in 2007, developed and became director of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Smoke Free Life Program, a tobacco cessation clinic for cancer patients at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and SCCA.

Patient Care Philosophy
My practice is currently limited to preventing and treating tobacco dependence, using a combination of evidence-based counseling techniques and proven pharmacotherapies. I believe that anybody can successfully stop using tobacco when given appropriate support and medication, and that it is never too late to benefit from quitting, in terms of both quality of life and longevity.

Clinical Interests
Prevention and treatment of tobacco addiction and related diseases.

Research Interests
Tobacco use prevention and treatment through clinical and community interventions; public health policy and health-care systems change; health behavior change and alcohol harm reduction among college students and other young adults.

Teaching Interests
Director of the UW Tobacco Studies Program which includes a core tobacco and public health course covering the prevention and treatment of tobacco use, epidemiology, health effects, socio-economic issues, tobacco industry marketing, global impact of tobacco and strategies to address the tobacco epidemic.

Languages
English

Expertise
Family Medicine