Drs. Nhung Nguyen, Peter Washington, Arka Ghosh, and Dan Kabella have been mentoring four talented undergraduate students (Genesis Green, Nathan Sutherland, Elizabeth Wiley, and Daniel Geraci) through the UC Berkeley Fung Fellowship Program. Together, we are developing a generative AI chatbot designed to help young people quit vaping. Our team presented a poster at the UCSF AI Day on March 11, 2026, in San Francisco. We were proud to share our work with the AI research community and to advance science at the intersection of tobacco cessation and AI-driven digital health.
Dr. Nguyen presents our lab research at the 2026 Society of Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
Dr. Nguyen presented our lab’s latest research at the 2026 Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) Annual Meeting, held March 3-7, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland.
She was invited to participate in a pre-conference workshop featuring leading scholars in the field titled, “Tobacco and Cannabis Co-Use Through a Health Equity Lens.” During the workshop, Dr. Nguyen discussed innovative approaches to classifying patterns of tobacco and cannabis co-use based on timeframe, methodological strategies for measuring these patterns, and key implications for advancing co-use assessments and intervention development. Her contributions highlighted the importance of precision in measuring co-use behaviors to inform equitable and effective public health strategies.
In addition, Dr. Nguyen presented findings from our lab’s ongoing project using Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) to capture real-time data on where and why young adults engage in nicotine vaping, cannabis vaping, and co-vaping. By leveraging smartphone-based assessments, this work identifies contextual triggers and motivations for use as they occur in daily life. Our research lays the groundwork for developing novel, contextually tailored interventions designed to reduce vaping and promote well-being among young people.
The conference also underscored the strength of our interdisciplinary collaborations. Dr. Nguyen collaborated with Dr. Wei Li (Yale University) on a poster presentation examining associations between nicotine and cannabis vaping and sleep health.
This collaboration began with a brief conversation at last year’s conference and has since grown into an ongoing research partnership utilizing our lab’s smartphone-based data to better understand how substance use patterns affect sleep.
We are proud to share our work with the broader research community and to advance science at the intersection of tobacco, cannabis, and digital health.
Dr. Nguyen Presents our lab research on Young Adults' Vaping at the 2025 Society of Behavioral Medicine
Dr. Nguyen presented new findings from our Co-Vaping Study at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference on March 27-28, 2025. Our research uncovers daily patterns of substance use and key factors influencing nicotine and cannabis vaping among young adults. Our pioneering work paves the way for innovative vaping cessation interventions, aiming to reduce health risks associated with tobacco and cannabis use in young populations.
UCSF Promoting Research in Social Media and Health (PRISM) Symposium 2024
Grace Cho, Dr. Allison Temourian, and Dr. Nhung Nguyen presented our research on "Using ChatGPT to Generate Vaping Cessation Messages Tailored to Different Demographics of Young Adults" at the UCSF PRISM symposium in December 2024. We discovered valuable insights into using AI tools for young adult vaping cessation, emphasizing the importance of minimizing biases and integrating human feedback to enhance real-world effectiveness.
UCSF Health Equity and Anti-Racism (HEAR) Symposium 2024
Dr. Vuong Do, our lab member, presented a study titled "Use of Cigarettes, Cannabis, and Alcohol among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Adults (AANHPI)" at the HEAR symposium. His study identified significant differences in substance use among cultural subgroups and genders within the AANHPI community, highlighting the need for increased focus on prevention and intervention programs to address health disparities among the AANHPI community. Congrats on his impactful work, Dr. Do!
Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) 2024 Annual Meeting
Sara Perez presented our research on similar and unique motivations and barriers to quitting cigarettes and e-cigarettes among young adults at the SRNT annual meeting in March 2024.
UCSF Promoting Research in Social Media and Health (PRISM) symposium 2023
Christine Tran, Dr. Vuong Do, and Dr. Nhung Nguyen presented our research on the development of smartphone-based intervention messages to help young adults quit both cigarettes and e-cigarettes: a user-centered design approach at the UCSF PRISM symposium in December 2023.
UCSF Health Equity and Anti-Racism Research (HEAR) Symposium 2023
Dr. Nhung Nguyen presented our research on the relationship between tobacco and cannabis use and mental health at the UCSF Health Equity and Anti-Racism Research Symposium in October 2023.