On Monday the 1st of April, ASPIRE 2025 received the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand President’s Award, which recognised the research theme’s “exemplary efforts and achievements in the field of smoking cessation and tobacco control”.
ASPIRE 2025 Co-Director Professor Richard Edwards accepted the award on behalf of the research group. “We are delighted to receive this recognition of our work, particularly from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, whose members are dedicated health professionals caring for and treating those most affected by smoking’s harms. The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand is one of the key organisations leading efforts to help achieve a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025.”
ASPIRE Co-Directors joined with Professor Edwards in expressing their delight at the award. Professor Janet Hoek commented “Our research theme illustrates the power of multi-disciplinary, mixed-methods research. ASPIRE researchers report on complex epidemiological studies through to probing analyses of individuals affected by different policies. This breadth of work has allowed us to offer crucial new insights into the impact current and potential measures have or could have.”
Anaru Waa noted that much remained to be done before the Smokefree 2025 goal was realised. “We are very mindful that our work is far from complete. Striking inequities in smoking prevalence still exist and Māori and Pacific peoples continue to bear a disproportionate burden of harm caused by smoking. As 2025 draws near, we need to increase our efforts to reduce these disparities. We look forward to working with TSANZ to achieve those goals.”