Chief Research Officer

THE ORGANIZATION

Truth Initiative is the nation's leading nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all. Through groundbreaking research, policy leadership, youth engagement, and innovative public education campaigns, Truth Initiative has played a transformative role in reducing tobacco use across the United States.

As the addiction landscape evolves, Truth Initiative is expanding its scientific focus beyond tobacco and nicotine to better understand the broader ecosystem of substance use and addiction, behavioral health, emerging nicotine products, cannabis use, and the growing challenge of polysubstance use among youth and young adults. Truth Initiative is also expanding its portfolio of externally funded research through partnerships with federal agencies, foundations, and academic institutions.

Truth Initiative is entering a new phase of scientific leadership. Building on its reputation as a leading authority on tobacco and nicotine addiction, the organization seeks to expand its scientific leadership in addiction science, behavioral health, and the factors that influence addiction, prevention, cessation, and treatment.

The Chief Research Officer will help position Truth Initiative as a premier interdisciplinary center for addiction science—advancing research on the behavioral and mental health dimensions of addiction; deepening understanding of polysubstance use and comorbidities; and translating scientific insight into effective prevention, cessation, and treatment strategies.

Through rigorous research, strategic partnerships, and science-driven public health innovation, the CRO will help shape the next generation of evidence that informs policy, improves health outcomes, and reduces addiction-related harms.

Truth Initiative seeks an experienced, visionary scientific leader to serve as Chief Research Officer (CRO). The CRO will guide the organization's research strategy and lead the continued evolution of its scientific agenda, building on Truth Initiative's leadership in tobacco and nicotine research while expanding the organization's contributions to addiction science, behavioral health, and emerging public health challenges.

The CRO will oversee a multidisciplinary research portfolio that integrates population science, behavioral health, addiction research, and policy research to better understand addiction pathways, mental health interactions, and effective prevention and cessation strategies.

Working closely with the CEO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership team, the CRO will shape the organization's long‑term scientific agenda, expand external funding opportunities, build new research collaborations, and strengthen Truth Initiative's role as a trusted scientific authority in addiction and public health.

• Guide the expansion of the organization's research agenda from tobacco and nicotine to a broader focus on addiction science, behavioral health, and polysubstance use and other factors that influence addiction and health outcomes.
• Advance research on the health, behavioral, and cognitive impacts of substance use, including tobacco and nicotine products, cannabis, and other emerging public health concerns relevant to youth and young adults.
• Integrate insights from neuroscience, behavioral science, epidemiology, and public health to better understand addiction risk, progression, and treatment.
• Identify emerging addiction trends and research priorities that inform prevention strategies.
• Guide cutting‑edge research that advances evidence‑based tobacco, nicotine, and public health policies related to addiction prevention and cessation at local, state and federal levels.

• Lead and mentor a high‑performing interdisciplinary research team with training and backgrounds in health communication, tobacco control policy, social and behavioral epidemiology, surveillance, and health economics.
• Build and oversee interdisciplinary research programs examining polysubstance use,…