Born:

August 11, 1956

(Columbus, Ohio, USA)

Education:

PhD, University of Michigan (1984)

Awards & Honours:

2025: King Charles III Coronation Medal

2023: Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, Social Sciences (2015 – 2023)

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FEATURE, Fong, G

A world-leading public health researcher

Fong sketch

Tobacco smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Canada and the world, killing more than 8 million people annually. The threat of tobacco led to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which obligates more than 180 countries to implement tobacco-control policies including smoke-free laws, graphic warnings, and marketing restrictions. Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD, a leading social psychologist, founded the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) to evaluate the impact of these FCTC policies. The ITC Project is renowned for its scientific rigour and scope, having conducted studies in 31 countries, covering half the world's population, over the past two decades. Dr. Fong has worked with governments and collaborators in Canada and globally, using ITC findings to advance tobacco control. The ITC Project has recently expanded to assess the impact of e-cigarettes on youth and adults. Dr. Fong has served as an expert witness for many countries to successfully defend their policies against legal challenges from the tobacco industry. Through his research and advocacy, he has made Canada a world leader in the fight against tobacco, improving the health of many millions.

Key Facts

A Professor of Psychology and Public Health at the University of Waterloo and a leader in tobacco control research

Founded and leads the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), a global research team of more than 150 researchers from various disciplines

The most productive tobacco researcher in the world, with more than 560 articles published and 900 papers presented at scientific meetings

Dr. Fong’s research has informed tobacco control policies and public health measures in more than 180 countries, improving the health of millions

Fun Fact: He was once a Guinness World Record holder. His high school chess team played speed chess to beat the world record of 39 hours. They surpassed it by playing for 52 hours, but by the time the next edition of the Guinness Book was published, some others had already beaten their record with 89 hours.

Professional timeline

Impact on lives today

Dr. Geoffrey Fong's work has fundamentally shaped tobacco control policies worldwide. His evidence-based approach demonstrated the effectiveness of various interventions like warning labels, smoke-free laws, and advertising bans in reducing tobacco use. These measures continue to be vital weapons in the global fight against tobacco, which causes millions of deaths each year. Dr. Fong’s methodologies for evaluating public health policies have not only contributed to saving countless lives through better tobacco control but have also created a foundation for addressing other global health challenges through systematic policy evaluation.

TIMELINE, Fong, G

2025

  • Article 1 Fong

    Dr. Fong appointed as Vice-Chair of the Article 2.1 Expert Group for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)

    Global Health, Public Health, Health Promotion & Advocacy

    The FCTC is the first-ever WHO treaty, adopted at the World Health Assembly in 2003. It obligates 183 countries, including Canada, to adopt evidence-based policies to combat tobacco use, the number one preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, according to WHO.

  • Fong, Innovation aw

    Received the Governor General’s Innovation Award with Mary E. Thompson and David Hammond

    “This pioneering research - of the ITC Project has led Canada and many other countries to strengthen their tobacco control efforts, improving the health of millions of people worldwide.”

  • Fong, OC

    Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada

    “Dr. Fong founded the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC), a global initiative that is informing tobacco control policies throughout the world. His innovative surveys, notably on the impact of policies related to graphic warning labels, standardized packaging and smoke-free public places, have led to significant change and cemented Canada’s reputation as a leader in public health research.”

  • Fong, address

    Presented an address to the China Tobacco Control Leadership Program in Chongqing on The Impact on Tobacco Use and Public Health of Implementation

    Over 300 Chinese government health authorities, researchers, advocates, and other stakeholders met to discuss the importance of stronger implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to achieve China’s health objectives.

  • Fong, Portugal

    Gave the keynote address to the European Conference on Tobacco or Health in Porto, Portugal

    Presented findings from the ITC/EUREST-PLUS Six European Country Project to an audience of researchers, advocates, and political leaders, including Queen Letizia of Spain and President Rebelo de Souza of Portugal.

  • Fong, monograph

    Selected by WHO and the US National Cancer Institute to serve as one of the three scientific editors of a landmark monograph, The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control

    This monograph was the first comprehensive review of the research on the economics of tobacco and tobacco control in 15 years.

  • Fong, Terry Award

    Received the global Luther Terry Award at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health for Outstanding Research Contributions

    Of the eight Luther Terry Research Awards ever conferred, ITC researchers have received five.

  • Fong, WHO expert group

    As the Technical Coordinator of WHO’s Expert Group, Dr. Fong led the evaluation of the FCTC's first decade, publishing the group’s findings in The Lancet Public Health.

    The findings showed a dose-response effect of FCTC policy implementation in reducing smoking prevalence across 126 countries. This demonstrated that the FCTC could lead to immense public health gains, but also that there was a need to address gaps in implementation.

  • Fong, Australia

    Served as a key expert witness for Uruguay and Australia to successfully defend policies against legal challenges from the tobacco industry

    Australia’s successful defense of plain packaging was the largest challenge in the history of the World Trade Organization. Dr. Fong was the Australia expert who reviewed the scientific evidence showing the benefits of plain packaging and rebutting claims by tobacco company experts that plain packaging was not effective.

  • Fong, Buthan

    ITC Project releases landmark report on tobacco use in the Kingdom of Bhutan

    Professor Fong and the Health Minister of Bhutan released the ITC Bhutan Report, which presented ITC findings on tobacco use in a country that had banned tobacco.

  • Fong Ch

    China Chronic Disease Seminar at the University of Waterloo

    which was organized by the ITC Project at Waterloo and the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), brought together the directors of chronic disease prevention from six cities in China

  • Fong ITC project

    Dr. Fong founded the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project

    Global Health, Public Health, Health Promotion & Advocacy

    which later expanded from 4 countries to 31 countries, covering more than half the world's population by 2010 - the largest and most productive tobacco research program in the world. It has published over 800 journal articles, presented over 1500 papers at scientific meetings, and produced over 200 reports, government submissions, and other dissemination products

  • Fong, Risky

    Conducted seminal research on behavioural interventions to reduce risky sexual behaviour among minority youth in the United States

    partnered with Professors John Jemmott and Loretta Sweet Jemmott on creating, implementing, and evaluating the impact of behavioural interventions to reduce risky sexual behaviour among African American and Latino youth.

  • Completed his PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan

1976

He's given millions of smokers on average 10 extra years of life which has big implications for economies, for healthcare systems and above all for families.