Mosaic Fellow
Cheryl K. Olson, Ph.D.
Areas of Expertise: Tobacco Harm Reduction; Behavioral Research Studies; Media Violence and Youth; Health Risk Behaviors; Media Strategies to Improve Health
Dr. Cheryl K. Olson is a behavioral scientist internationally recognized for her work on health risk behaviors and the influence of media on youth. Cheryl spent 15 years on the psychiatry faculty of Harvard Medical School, where she co-directed the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital. There, she conducted federally-funded research on the effects of video game violence on youth behavior and on improving public understanding of neuroscience. She has written and edited a half-dozen popular books on health and several dozen scientific articles, and been interviewed by journalists worldwide about her research. Her most recent book (co-authored with Eugene Beresin, M.D.) is Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Media (Elsevier).
Cheryl also works in tobacco harm reduction and developed the ground-breaking QuitAssist smoking cessation program for PMUSA/Altria. She writes a monthly column on public health topics for Tobacco Reporter, and speaks regularly at harm reduction conferences. Her current work includes perception/intention studies on modified-risk nicotine products, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations.
She earned her Ph.D. in health and social behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a Postdoctoral European Certificate in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Basel Medical School, Switzerland. She holds an M.P.H., Community Health Education, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and a B.A. in Communications, University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts.