July 28, 2010

Dr. Tim McAfee has been chosen to be Director, Office of Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  He has been chief medical officer and founder of Free & Clear, Inc., an organization that has grown since 2003 from a small telephone counseling service for smokers into an award-winning, nationally-recognized business with a diverse customer base including nearly 400 commercial and 26 state quitline clients.  He was a practicing family physician for over a decade and continues to treat tobacco-dependent patients.

In his previous position, Dr. McAfee was the executive director of the Center for Health Promotion, the division within a Seattle, Washington-based Group Health Cooperative that eventually became Free & Clear, Inc. He led the Cooperative’s efforts to adopt policies and create systems regarding tobacco that led to a 40% decline in smoking. He helped found and served on the Board of Directors of the North American Quitline Consortium, as well as numerous state and national tobacco policy advisory groups. He recently completed the draft for the World Health Organization’s manual which outlines best practices for creating and operating quitlines in developing and transitional countries

As the tobacco control movement has had many successes in the United States, tobacco cessation efforts, which have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives if given increased priority, have lagged behind. ActionToQuit and Partnership for Prevention hope that Dr. McAfee will build on the work begun with stimulus funds and other efforts in Health and Human S to elevate the national priority of cessation.