Geoffrey T. Fong, O.C., Ph.D., FRSC, FCAHS is University Professor of Psychology and Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, and Senior Investigator at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. Dr. Fong is the Founder and Principal Investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Project, a consortium of over 150 researchers across 31 countries, covering over half of the world’s population and over two-thirds of the world’s tobacco users. The ITC Project is the world’s largest tobacco research program. A key objective of the ITC Project is to evaluate the impact of policies of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the global tobacco control treaty. Dr. Fong has published over 540 research articles and given over 250 invited talks.
Dr. Fong has contributed to many landmark reports, including from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), U.S. Surgeon General, WHO, US National Academy of Sciences, and UK’s Royal College of Physicians. As Technical Coordinator of the WHO FCTC Impact Assessment Expert Group, Dr. Fong designed the methodology for the official evaluation of the FCTC in its first decade. He has been an expert consultant for WHO, FCTC Secretariat, and Canada, Australia, Brazil, Uruguay, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore. and has served on over 20 advisory groups including Health Canada’s Vaping Products Scientific Advisory Board, Canada’s Tobacco Endgame Summit, WHO Expert Group on COVID-19 and Tobacco Use, and the FCTC Expert Group on Tobacco Product Regulation.
Among Dr. Fong’s recognitions are the Top Canadian Achievement in Health Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Knowledge Translation Award, WHO World No Tobacco Day Award, American Association of Public Opinion Research Policy Impact Award, Health Research Foundation Medal of Honour, Canadian Cancer Society O. Harold Warwick Prize, and Governor General’s Innovation Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In December 2021, Dr. Fong was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.