• Your full title as you’d like it to appear.

Michelle Eakin, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine Johns Hopkins University, chair of Tobacco Action Committee

• Three statements about you – two true, one false.  

I worked in a state prison.
I went to Versailles with Fran Comi.
I jumped off a 40 foot cliff in Jackson Hole, WY.

• Give us your ‘elevator pitch’ biography.

I am a clinical psychologist with an interest in behavioral interventions to improve respiratory health. I am focused on developing, evaluating, and implementing evidence-based interventions in community settings.

Early in my career, I was really interested in health behavior. My primary interests are in medication adherence and tobacco cessation, and I had a mentor who was involved in a lung health study at Johns Hopkins. Though I am a member of other professional societies, I consider the ATS, where I am a member of the Behavior Science Research Assembly, and chair of the Tobacco Action Committee, to be my home society given its inclusion of multi-disciplinary approaches to improving respiratory health

• What would you tell yourself as an Early Career Professional?

My best advice would be to volunteer for activities and then complete them. Across my career, when I’ve heard of interesting opportunities and put myself out there, that’s been the first step.  The second step is making it happen and that is what most people remember.

• If you weren’t in medicine, and were in a different industry altogether, what would you be?

I would love to be a park ranger and tour guide at a national park. National parks are my favorites places to be, and I’ve always found the park rangers very knowledgeable and enjoying their work.

• What is your favorite way to spend a day off?

I love to be outside as much as possible. I enjoy hiking, biking, and kayaking with my family.

• What areas of medicine are you most excited to see develop?

I am excited to see the concept of integrated care grow within medicine. As a psychologist, I see the value of behavioral health in clinical care, and I would like to see that grow. Psychologists benefit from working with providers directly, and patients and providers benefit from improving access to behavioral health services.

• What is one advancement in your field you’d like to see in your career?

I’d love to see the FDA ban flavorings, including menthol,  in all tobacco productsand overall increased regulation of tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes.

• Ok. Which statement did you make up?

I did not jump off the cliff. My two kids and husband did but I was too chicken!