Alyssa F Harlow

Dr. Harlow is an epidemiologist and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Harlow’s research integrates rigorous epidemiologic methods with addiction science to inform policies and interventions aimed at preventing the adverse health effects of substance use among youth and adults. She has extensive experience conducting longitudinal analyses with national and regional prospective cohort studies, including the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study and USC youth cohort studies. An important focus of Dr. Harlow’s research is identifying regulatory targets to reduce tobacco-related harms, and her research has directly impacted federal tobacco policy. Her work is published in high-impact journals (e.g., JAMA, Epidemiology, Addiction) and has been nationally recognized and featured in news outlets such as ABC Good Morning America and US News & World Report.

Dr. Harlow’s research primarily falls under three domains, including (a) documenting disparities and identifying fundamental causes of disparities in tobacco and other substance use; (b) identifying determinants of tobacco product transitions (e.g., initiation, progression, cessation); and (c) examining the health effects of tobacco-product and cannabis use, including mental health, cardiopulmonary and reproductive health outcomes. She is currently the PI of a NIDA-funded K01 award examining the influence of the tobacco and cannabis retail environment and neighborhood disadvantage on youth nicotine and cannabis vaping outcomes, and she is the recipient of an NIH Pediatric Loan Repayment Award.

• Longitudinal Transitions Between Use of Combustible, Noncombustible, and Multiple Cannabis Products From Adolescence to Young Adulthood and Intersections With Nicotine Use Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Apr 08; 193(4):617-625. . View in PubMed
• Association of cigarette and electronic cigarette use patterns with all-cause mortality: A National Cohort Study of 145,390 US adults Prev Med. 2024 Mar 27; 107943. . View in PubMed
• JAMA. 2024 Mar 12; 331(10):861-865. . View in PubMed
• Disposable E-Cigarette Use and Subsequent Use Patterns in Adolescents and Young Adults Pediatrics. 2024 Mar 11. . View in PubMed
• Association of Race-Ethnicity Intersection with Disparities in Cigarette Smoking in US Adults Nicotine Tob Res. 2024 Feb 24. . View in PubMed
• Psychedelic Microdosing among Young Adults from Southern California J Psychoactive Drugs. 2024 Feb 10; 1-12. . View in PubMed
• Sexual and Gender Identity Disparities in Nicotine and Tobacco Use Susceptibility and Prevalence: Disaggregating Emerging Identities Among Adolescents From California, USA Nicotine Tob Res. 2024 Jan 22; 26(2):203-211. . View in PubMed
• Trajectories of body mass index and combustible and electronic cigarette use across adolescence: Findings from the PATH study Addict Behav. 2024 02; 149:107901. . View in PubMed
• Effects of dual use of e-cigarette and cannabis during adolescence on cigarette use in young adulthood Tob Control. 2023 May 05. . View in PubMed
• Young adults’ beliefs about modern oral nicotine products: Implications for uptake in nonvapers, dual use with e-cigarettes, and use to reduce/quit vaping Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2023 Apr; 31(2):455-463. . View in PubMed
• The interaction of e-cigarette use and mental health symptoms on risk of cigarette smoking initiation among young adults in the United States Addiction. 2023 12; 118(12):2317-2326. . View in PubMed
• Sociodemographic Differences in E-Cigarette Uptake and Perceptions of Harm Am J Prev Med. 2023 09; 65(3):356-365. . View in PubMed
• Am J Prev Med. 2023 04; 64(4):556-560. . View in PubMed
• Underage E-Cigarette Purchasing and Vaping Progression Among Young Adults J Adolesc Health. 2023 02; 72(2):260-266. . View in PubMed
• Willingness to Use Commercial Nicotine Gums, Lozenges, and Gummies Among Nontobacco Using Adolescents in Southern California J Adolesc Health. 2023 02; 72(2):277-286. . View in PubMed
• Prevalence of and disparities in adolescents’ susceptibility to novel oral nicotine products marketed as “tobacco-free” Prev Med. 2023 01; 166:107387. . View in PubMed
• Racial, Ethnic, and Education Differences in Age of Smoking Initiation Among Young Adults in the United States, 2002 to 2019 JAMA Netw Open. 2023 03 01; 6(3):e235742. . View in PubMed
• Differences in intention to use flavored oral nicotine products among young adult e-cigarette users and non-users Prev Med Rep. 2022 Dec; 30:102027. . View in PubMed
• Changes in sexual identity and substance use during young adulthood Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022 Dec 01; 241:109674. . View in PubMed
• Prospective association between e-cigarette use frequency patterns and cigarette smoking abstinence among adult cigarette smokers in the United States Addiction. 2022 12; 117(12):3129-3139. . View in PubMed
• Association of device type, flavours and vaping behaviour with tobacco product transitions among adult electronic cigarette users in the USA Tob Control. 2022 08; 31(e1):e10-e17. . View in PubMed
• Longitudinal associations between flavored tobacco use and tobacco product cessation in a national sample of adults Prev Med. 2022 08; 161:107143. . View in PubMed
• Adolescent Use of Flavored Non-Tobacco Oral Nicotine Products Pediatrics. 2022 09 01; 150(3). . View in PubMed
• Association of Electronic Cigarette Use with Respiratory Symptom Development among US. Young Adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 06 01; 205(11):1320-1329. . View in PubMed
• e-Cigarette Use and Combustible Cigarette Smoking Initiation Among Youth: Accounting for Time-Varying Exposure and Time-Dependent Confounding Epidemiology. 2022 07 01; 33(4):523-532. . View in PubMed
• Closing the Loophole on Hemp-Derived Cannabis Products: A Public Health Priority JAMA. 2022 11 22; 328(20):2007-2008. . View in PubMed
• The Impact of Influencers on Cigar Promotions: A Content Analysis of Large Cigar and Swisher Sweets Videos on TikTok Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 06 09; 19(12). . View in PubMed
• E-Cigarette Use and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Longitudinal Analysis of the PATH Study (2013-2019) Circulation. 2022 05 17; 145(20):1557-1559. . View in PubMed
• Motivations for E-cigarette use and associations with vaping frequency and smoking abstinence among adults who smoke cigarettes in the United States Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022 09 01; 238:109583. . View in PubMed
• Bystander Prevention for Sexual Violence: #HowIWillChange and Gaps in Twitter Discourse J Interpers Violence. 2021 06; 36(11-12):NP5753-NP5771. . View in PubMed
• Electronic Cigarettes and Fecundability: Results From a Prospective Preconception Cohort Study Am J Epidemiol. 2021 02 01; 190(3):353-361. . View in PubMed
• Association of Cigarette and Electronic Cigarette Use Patterns With Levels of Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Among US Adults: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study Circulation. 2021 02 23; 143(8):869-871. . View in PubMed
• Association of Coming Out as Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual+ and Risk of Cigarette Smoking in a Nationally Representative Sample of Youth and Young Adults JAMA Pediatr. 2021 01 01; 175(1):56-63. . View in PubMed
• Racial/Ethnic Differences in Associations of Non-cigarette Tobacco Product Use With Subsequent Initiation of Cigarettes in US Youths Nicotine Tob Res. 2021 05 24; 23(6):900-908. . View in PubMed
• Male Preconception Marijuana Use and Spontaneous Abortion: A Prospective Cohort Study Epidemiology. 2021 03 01; 32(2):239-247. . View in PubMed
• A qualitative study of factors influencing male participation in fertility research Reprod Health. 2020 Nov 23; 17(1):186. . View in PubMed
• Using Medicare Data to Identify Serious Illness in Older Surgical Patients J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 08; 60(2):e101-e103. . View in PubMed
• Delays in repeat HIV viral load testing for those with elevated viral loads: a national perspective from South Africa J Int AIDS Soc. 2020 07; 23(7):e25542. . View in PubMed
• Factors Associated With Long-term Outcomes After Injury: Results of the Functional Outcomes and Recovery After Trauma Emergencies (FORTE) Multicenter Cohort Study Ann Surg. 2020 06; 271(6):1165-1173. . View in PubMed
• National Study of Triage and Access to Trauma Centers for Older Adults Ann Emerg Med. 2020 02; 75(2):125-135. . View in PubMed
• Impact of Viral Load Monitoring on Retention and Viral Suppression: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of South Africa’s National Laboratory Cohort Am J Epidemiol. 2020 12 01; 189(12):1492-1501. . View in PubMed
• EMS professionals: critical partners in human trafficking response Emerg Med J. 2019 10; 36(10):641. . View in PubMed
• Socioeconomic and Racial/Ethnic Differences in E-Cigarette Uptake Among Cigarette Smokers: Longitudinal Analysis of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Nicotine Tob Res. 2019 09 19; 21(10):1385-1393. . View in PubMed
• Qualitative Analysis of a Cultural Dexterity Program for Surgeons: Feasible, Impactful, and Necessary J Surg Educ. 2018 Sep – Oct; 75(5):1159-1170. . View in PubMed
• A Randomized Controlled Trial of Strategies to Improve Family Members’ Preparedness for Surrogate Decision-Making Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2018 Jun; 35(6):866-874. . View in PubMed
• A multicenter study of post-traumatic stress disorder after injury: Mechanism matters more than injury severity Surgery. 2018 12; 164(6):1246-1250. . View in PubMed
• Association of pain after trauma with long-term functional and mental health outcomes J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2018 10; 85(4):773-779. . View in PubMed
• Critical differences between elective and emergency surgery: identifying domains for quality improvement in emergency general surgery Surgery. 2018 04; 163(4):832-838. . View in PubMed
• The “mortality ascent”: Hourly risk of death for hemodynamically unstable trauma patients at Level II versus Level I trauma centers J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2018 01; 84(1):139-145. . View in PubMed
• Incidence and Predictors of Opioid Prescription at Discharge After Traumatic Injury JAMA Surg. 2017 Oct 01; 152(10):930-936. . View in PubMed
• A systematic review of evaluated suicide prevention programs targeting indigenous youth Crisis. 2014; 35(5):310-21. . View in PubMed

• Leventhal, Adam
• Barrington-Trimis, Jessica
• Unger, Jennifer
• Allem, Jon
• Sussman, Steven
• McConnell, Rob
• Kirkpatrick, Matthew
• Pang, Raina
• Pentz, Maryann
• Lerman, Caryn
• Pedersen, Eric
• Mason, Tyler