Dr. Jean Forster

Jean Forster, Ph.D. is known worldwide for her work on policy change and tobacco use prevention.  She has conducted multiple community organizing projects to change community-level policies to reduce youth tobacco use.  She is currently conducting a participatory research study in partnership with urban American Indians to identify strategies for reducing the extremely high rates of recreational tobacco use among Native Americans.  A strong advocate for translating research into practice, she has worked with many community-based organizations.  She served as the president of Minnesota's Smoke Free Coalition from 2001 to 2003.  She created and currently teaches Public Health Policy as a Prevention Strategy and Legislative Advocacy Skills for Public Health.