Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science
Lecturer
Office: 9245 Sky Park Court, suite 250
Email: nkassem@sdsu.edu
Education
- DrPH, Public Health, Health Education and Epidemiology, Loma Linda University, 2000
- MS, Health Administration, California State University, Northridge, 1989
- BSN, Nursing, American University of Beirut, 1977
Scholarly Areas
- Toxicology and carcinogenic metabolites of hookah (waterpipe) tobacco smoking behaviors in laboratory and real world settings
- Nicotine contamination of surfaces of hookah lounges and homes of hookah tobacco smokers
- Secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure in children and young adults
- Hookah tobacco harm reduction strategies
- Regulations to control the proliferation of hookah tobacco use and hookah lounges
- Hookah tobacco waste management
- Health program evaluation
- Health education.
Biography
Dr. Nada Kassem is a research scientist, a Master Certified Health Education Specialist, a board certified registered nurse and a lecturer and adjunct associate professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at San Diego State University (SDSU). She is the associate director of the Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health Center, and the founder and head of the Hookah Tobacco Studies Division at San Diego State University Research Foundation. She has research funding from federal, California State and private institutions on toxicology of hookah tobacco smoking behaviors: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/ National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIDA/NIH); the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI). Her research experience includes collecting data from children 5 years and younger, high school students, college students, adults and immigrants from the San Diego County community using ecological frameworks via interviewing, self-administered, group-administered and web-based surveys. Dr. Kassem studies have produced landmark findings of carcinogenic exposure (benzene, acrolein, and tobacco specific nitrosamines) in hookah tobacco smokers and in those exposed to hookah tobacco secondhand smoke. Her published breakthrough findings on health risks associated with hookah tobacco use earned her national and international recognition, including letters of acknowledgement from the president of SDSU and the California State University office of the Chancellor.
