Dr. Benjamin Toll is a licensed clinical psychologist, a professor of Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry, Co-Director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program, and Chief of Tobacco Cessation and Health Behaviors at the Hollings Cancer Center, and Director of the Tobacco Treatment Program at the Medical University of South Carolina. He specializes in treatment of tobacco use disorders, alcohol use disorders, and improvement of health behaviors.
Dr. Toll has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, including the National Cancer Institute, and he is an author of over 110 peer-reviewed publications relating to nicotine and tobacco research, including several clinical practice guidelines and policy statements from US medical societies. He has served as an author for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) on a policy statement encouraging physicians to provide tobacco treatment for cancer patients, the American College of Chest Physician (ACCP) treatment guidelines for smoking cessation among lung cancer patients, and the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) clinical practice guideline for treatment of tobacco dependent adults. He also holds leadership positions in national associations relating to tobacco treatment research. Dr. Toll is a Board Member for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), and a member of the AACR Tobacco and Cancer Subcommittee.
Dr. Toll’s NCI funded research has focused on testing novel smoking cessation treatments and he has conducted numerous clinical trials in this regard. Many of his studies have investigated promotion of smoking cessation through novel message framing and motivational interventions, including those delivered via telephone and in person. Dr. Toll has tested several pharmacological and counseling interventions, and he also has expertise in the measurement of tobacco use and tobacco related syndromes (e.g., withdrawal, craving), and mediators and moderators of response to treatment. He has served as a reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed publications, including the Surgeon General’s Report (The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress, Chapter: Cigarette Smoking and Adverse Health Outcomes in Cancer Patients and Survivors).