selected peer-reviewed publications

My research and editorial work sits at the intersection of race, ethnicity, discrimination, and stigma; mental health and psychological distress; social, structural, and commercial determinants of health; and cigarette smoking.

Cigarette smoking — particularly menthol tobacco use — causes substantial illness and death in the United States, disproportionately affecting minoritized racial and ethnic communities. Stress, anxiety, racism, body image concerns, and historical trauma shape the perceived benefits of smoking among communities with histories of colonization. Tobacco companies, which U.S. federal courts have adjudicated as racketeers, commercialized the sacred tobacco plant — once used solely for ceremonial traditions by Indigenous peoples — and have engaged in predatory lobbying, advertising, and marketing practices for decades to boost profits while addicting youth and adults to increasingly higher levels of nicotine, with devastating health consequences.

Tobacco smoking continues to kill nearly half a million Americans each year, with no signs of decline. Research-informed policies aimed at eliminating commercial tobacco products at the local, state, federal, and tribal levels can help counter the cycle of addiction, disease, and death driven by the tobacco industry. The following includes references to a selection of my peer-reviewed publications addressing tobacco-related health disparities and the policy instruments that can shift prevention and clinical treatments towards improved health for everyone.

Villanti, A. C., Hickman, N. J., III, Kennedy, R. D., Wadie, K. A., & Fagan, P. (Eds.). (2025). Continued impact of the use of commercial tobacco products on health disparities in the U.S. [Special issue]. JNCI Monographs, 2025(70). https://academic.oup.com/jncimono/issue/2025/70

From 2018-2024, I served as a Senior Scientific Editor for a U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on eliminating tobacco-related health disparities and death. I was responsible for overseeing the development of Chapters 4, 5, and 7 of the report. The three chapters include topics in my doctoral dissertation and master’s thesis as well as other tobacco-related prevention and treatment areas of study during my research career. See the Office of the Surgeon General’s website here: Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities—A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2024.

Hickman, NJ, Delucchi KL, Prochaska JJ. (2015). Treating tobacco dependence at the intersection of diversity, poverty, and mental illness: A randomized feasibility and replication trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17(8), 1012-1021. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntv034. Pubmed abstract & article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26180227/

Hickman, NJ, Delucchi, KL, Prochaska, JJ. (2014). Menthol use among smokers with psychological distress: Findings from the 2008 and 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Tobacco Control, 23(1), 7-13. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050479. Pubmed abstract & article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258063/

Hickman, NJ, Delucchi, KL, Prochaska, JJ. (2010). A population-based examination of cigarette smoking and mental illness in Black Americans. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 12(11), 1125-1132. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntq160. Pubmed abstract & article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20855413/

Young-Wolff, KC, Hickman NJ, 3rd, Kim, R, Gali, K, Prochaska, JJ. (2015). Correlates and prevalence of menthol cigarette use among adults with serious mental illness. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17 (3), 285-291. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntu141. Pubmed abstract & article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25190706/

Kim, R, Hickman, N, Gali, K, Orozco, N, Prochaska, JJ. (2014). Maximizing retention with high risk participants in a clinical trial. American Journal of Health Promotion, 28(4), 268-274. doi: 10.4278/ajhp.120720-QUAN-355. Pubmed abstract & article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23875989/

Brown-Johnson, CG, Cataldo, JK, Orozco, N, Lisha, NE, Hickman, NJ, Prochaska, JJ. (2015). Validity and reliability of the internalized stigma of smoking inventory: An exploration of shame, isolation, and discrimination in smokers with mental health diagnoses. The American Journal on Addictions, 24, 410-418. doi: 10.1111/ajad.12215. Pubmed abstract & article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25930661/

Hickman NJ, Prochaska JJ, Dunn LB. Screening for research consent capacity in the inpatient psychiatry setting. (2011). Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 6(3): 65-72. Pubmed abstract and article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357117/

My research as a doctoral student focused on elucidating psychosocial and commercial determinants of health linked to commercial tobacco product: appeal, seeming cultural alignment, and perceived wide access and use among minoritized racial and ethnic people in the United States of America.

Landrine, H, Corral-Monarrez, I, Klonoff, EA, Jensen, J, Kashima, K, Hickman, N, Martinez, J. (2008). Ethnic disparities in youth access to tobacco: California statewide results, 1999-2003. Health Promotion Practice, 11(1), 132-139. Pubmed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18480321/

Landrine, H, Klonoff, EA, Fernandez, S, Hickman, N, Kashima, K, Parekh, B, Thomas, K, Brouillard, C, Zolezzi, M, Jensen, J, Weslowski, Z. (2005). Cigarette advertising in Black, Latino, and White magazines, 1998-2002: An exploratory investigation. Ethnicity & Disease, 15(1), 63-67. Pubmed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15720050/

Fernandez, S, Hickman, N, Klonoff, EA, Landrine, H, Kashima, K, Parekh, B, Brouillard, C, Zolezzi, M, Jensen, J, Weslowski, Z. (2005). Cigarette advertising in magazines for Latinas, White women, and men, 1998-2002: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Community Health, 30(2), 141-151. Pubmed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15810566/

Hickman, N, Klonoff, E, Landrine, H, Kashima, K, Parekh, B, Fernandez, S, Thomas, K, Brouillard, C, Zolezzi, M, Jensen, J, Weslowski, Z. (2004). Preliminary investigation of the advertising and availability of PREPs, the new 'safe' tobacco products. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27(4):413-424. Pubmed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15559736/

Jensen, J, Hickman, N, Landrine, H, Klonoff, EA. (2004). Availability of tobacco to youth via the internet. Journal of the American Medical Association, 291(15), 1837. doi:10.1001/jama.291.15.1837. Pubmed reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15100201/