Professor Gerry Stimson is a leading advocate for tobacco harm reduction and an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London. A public health social scientist, with over 50 years’ experience of research and advocacy, he was one of the founders of drugs harm reduction in the 1990s, helping to develop and evaluate harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. Gerry has advised the UK Government, WHO, UNAIDS, UNODC, the World Bank and numerous governments around the world on issues relating to drugs, HIV infection and AIDS, and alcohol. He has also published over 220 scientific publications and several books. 

Currently, Gerry is Director of Research and Policy at Knowledge•Action•Change, and is involved in the FSFW-funded Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction and Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship programmes. He is also a co-founder of the Global Forum on Nicotine, which has been delivered by KAC Communications since 2014. 

Professor Gerry Stimson is a leading advocate for tobacco harm reduction and an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London. A public health social scientist, with over 50 years’ experience of research and advocacy, he was one of the founders of drugs harm reduction in the 1990s, helping to develop and evaluate harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. Gerry has advised the UK Government, WHO, UNAIDS, UNODC, the World Bank and numerous governments around the world on issues relating to drugs, HIV infection and AIDS, and alcohol. He has also published over 220 scientific publications and several books. 

Currently, Gerry is Director of Research and Policy at Knowledge•Action•Change, and is involved in the FSFW-funded Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction and Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship programmes. He is also a co-founder of the Global Forum on Nicotine, which has been delivered by KAC Communications since 2014. 

CECILIA KINDSTRAND-ISAKSSON, SWEDEN Cecilia Kindstrand is Director of Public Affairs for Swedish Match, a company with tobacco harm reduction at the core of its business. The company divested its cigarette business in 1999 and is now offering products that are recognized as safer alternatives to cigarettes. She is based in Brussels and has worked extensively with the EU regulatory matters, especially the TPD 2014/40 a legislation banning the ‘proof of concept’ of tobacco harm reduction in 26 of the 27 Member States.

Dr Roberto A Sussman is a full time senior researcher and lecturer in physics at the National University of Mexico. He specializes in Theoretical Cosmology but has undertaken research and frequent peer reviewing for journals in other areas of Astrophysics. He is also the founder and Director of Pro-Vapeo Mexico, an association representing Mexican consumers of noncombustible nicotine products and is a member of INNCO. He is actively advocating for an appropriate regulation of Tobacco Harm Reduction products in Mexico. He directs and supervises the effort to spread scientific information on these products, as well as advising consumers on how to counter the misinformation and prejudice about them that is rampant throughout Latin America.

Miroslaw Dworniczak, PhD - chemist, freelance science journalist, former scientist and lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan, Poland). Author (under the name "Stary Chemik" - "Old Chemist") of the first blog in Poland dealing with e-cigarettes and e-liquid chemistry and safety (http://starychemik.wordpress.com - in Polish) and the webpage for complete beginners (http://epapieros.edu.pl) including a manual for beginners in English (http://epapieros.edu.pl/manual-english/).

Nancy Loucas is passionate about consumers having their voices heard in the narrative of THR and public health policy. Her consumer THR journey began in 2015 as one of the founders/co directors of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA) in New Zealand, doing battle for the rights of vapers to be able to access what they need to become/remain smoke free.

Nancy participated in developing INNCO from its inception (2016) and served as first president of the Governing Board in 2017-2018.

Nancy is currently the founder and Executive Coordinator for CAPHRA - the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates. CAPHRA supports consumer THR advocacy organisations and activities throughout the Asia Pacific region and has developed and presented various programmes for consumers such as the Voices4Vape online seminar series, the Right2Switch global consumer petition and, with CASAA in the US, the RightToVape.org Testimonial database that contains thousands of consumer testimonials globally.

Nancy is also the founder and director of Paraclete Associates Limited, (PAL), providing guidance on THR policy, regulation and programme development/advocacy mentoring globally. PAL was instrumental in the development and coordination of the sCOPe 5-day livestream that ran during the FCTC COP 9 in 2021. PAL also produces the consumer THR news show “The Advocates Voice.”

Professor Marewa Glover has worked on reducing smoking-related harm for over 25 years. She has worked as a policy analyst, a co-ordinator of a national tobacco control programme, cessation trainer and, for over 17 years, as a researcher. She has chaired numerous committees and organisations including End Smoking NZ, an independent NGO that lobbied for a harm reduction approach even before electronic cigarettes were introduced. Marewa has over 100 publications reflecting her leadership and support of numerous studies. Her primary focus has been reducing smoking during pregnancy and reducing smoking among Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. She has also been a co-investigator on a number of innovative cessation projects and a longitudinal online survey of New Zealand vapers. Dr Glover is the most prominent public commentator on vaping in NZ. She is regularly called by the media and has appeared on NZ’s 60 Minutes in addition to participating in live online and conference debates about vaping. Despite an initial ban on the import and sale of nicotine for vaping imposed by the Ministry of Health, vaping has become established as a common and successful way to reduce or stop smoking in NZ. Marewa, along with a small number of other researchers who early on foresaw the potential of ecigs, have helped make this happen.

Dr Sudhanshu Patwardhan is a UK licensed Medical Doctor of Indian origin, passionate about helping people quit risky forms of tobacco. After a long and impactful corporate career in the Pharma and Tobacco sectors across three continents, Dr Sud (as he is mostly referred as), co-founded the Centre for Health Research and Education (CHRE) in 2019. CHRE’s team of over 50 medical and public health experts work on nicotine literacy and tobacco harm reduction projects in the UK, USA and South Asia. Dr Sud and his team address the unmet educational needs of healthcare professionals so as to empower them to provide better cessation support to the most disadvantaged tobacco users globally. He is passionate about Indian music and is very active as the Chair of one UK’s largest South Asian arts charity - Art Asia.

Dr. Paul Newhouse is the Director of the Center for Cognitive Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also Jim Turner Professor of Cognitive Disorders at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Medicine.

Dr. Newhouse received his undergraduate education at Kansas State University, attended medical school at Loyola University, Stritch School of Medicine, and completed his residency training in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in Geriatric Psychopharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Newhouse's research has focused on central nicotinic mechanisms in degenerative brain disorders and the role of nicotinic receptor systems in normal and disordered cognitive functioning in humans. He has also focused attention on the development of novel nicotinic agents for clinical use.  Another major focus includes studying the interaction of estrogen and central cholinergic, catecholaminergic, and serotonergic systems in relation to cognitive and emotional aging in the elderly and novel pharmacologic-imaging methodologies. Other interests include treatment of depression and behavioral disturbances in the elderly, and development of effective novel agents for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders of the elderly.

Helen Redmond is an expert in substance use with over a decade of experience working with drug users and people with mental health problems. Her current focus is on helping smokers from vulnerable groups switch to e-cigarettes. At New York Harm Reduction Educators, Helen facilitates tobacco harm reduction/vaping groups. She is a senior editor at Filter and writes about vaping and creates short Op-Docs. Helen is adjunct faculty at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University.