Faculty Profile

Kenneth Warner

Kenneth E. Warner, PhD

  • Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Public Health
  • Dean Emeritus, School of Public Health
  • Professor Emeritus, Health Management and Policy

Professor Warner's research focuses on ascertaining the effects of tobacco control policies, including tobacco taxation, advertising and marketing restrictions, and smokefree workplace laws.

His primary current interest relates to tobacco harm reduction, the use of reduced-risk nicotine delivery products as an alternative to smoking cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products. In particular, his work concentrates on regulatory policy regarding electronic or e-cigarettes, studying both the principal concerns about e-cigarettes - their effects on young people - and the potential benefits - their ability to help a subset of adults to quit smoking.

Professor Warner's research utilizes a number of research methods, including multivariable regression analysis and simulation modeling. With colleague David Mendez, he has employed the latter for multiple purposes, including projecting future smoking prevalence and health outcomes in the United States, estimating changes in smoking cessation over time, and evaluating the likely health implications of the use of e-cigarettes.

  • PhD, Yale University, 1974
  • MPhil, Yale University, 1970
  • AB, Dartmouth College, 1968

Effects of tobacco control policies; dynamic analysis of trends in smoking and smoking cessation; economic implications of tobacco and of tobacco control; implications of e-cigarettes

Research Projects:
Much of Warner's current research relates to work undertaken by the UM Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations (CAsToR), supported by a center grant from the National Cancer Institute and Food and Drug Administration as part of the latter's Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) program. The central focus of CAsToR's work is developing and applying simulation models to evaluate the effects of possible nicotine and tobacco product regulations.

Working with colleagues Ruoyan Sun and David Mendez, Warner is studying the complex associations between nicotine vaping (use of nicotine e-cigarettes) by young people and their future smoking behavior and use of marijuana.

Collaborating with a number of colleagues from the US and the UK, Warner is examining mixes of policies that can simultaneously aim to reduce youth use of e-cigarettes and increase the role of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation by adults.

Warner KE, Kiessling KA, Douglas CE, Liber AC. 2022. A proposed policy agenda for electronic cigarettes in the US: product, price, place, and promotion. Health Affairs. 41(9):1299-1306. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00187

Mendez D, Le TTT, Warner KE. 2022. Monitoring the increase in the U.S. smoking cessation rate and its implication for future smoking prevalence. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 24(11):1727-1731. https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article/24/11/1727/6576151?login=true

Sun R, Mendez D, Warner KE. 2022. Is adolescent e-cigarette use associated with adolescent smoking? A new look. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 24(5):710-718. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntab243

Balfour DJK, Benowitz NL, Colby SM, Hatsukami DK, Lando HA, Leischow SJ, Lerman C, Mermelstein RJ, Niaura R, Perkins KA, Pomerleau OF, Rigotti NA, Swan GE, Warner KE, West R. 2021. Balancing consideration of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes. American Journal of Public Health. 111:1661-1672. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306416

Mendez D, Warner KE. 2021. A magic bullet? The potential impact of e-cigarettes on the toll of cigarette smoking. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 19;23(4):654-661. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7976928/

Warner KE. 2019. How to think - not feel - about tobacco harm reduction. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 21(10):1299-1309. https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article/21/10/1299/4990310?login=true

View full list of publications at Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=enandas_sdt=0%2C23andq=%22Kenneth+E.+Warner%22andoq=

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 734-649-1914

Areas of Expertise: Global Public Health,  Health Policy,  Substance Use,  Tobacco