Roger Bate (United States)
Roger Bate is a nonresident scholar with the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE). He researches international and domestic health policy, with a special interest in medicines and is a former advisor to the South African Government. He is the author or editor of 14 books and over 1,000 journal and newspaper articles which have appeared in titles including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Lancet, and the British Medical Journal.
Jeannie Cameron (United Kingdom)
Jeannie Cameron is founder and managing director of JCIC International Ltd, a UK based strategic advocacy consultancy specializing in tobacco harm reduction, anti-illicit trade and supply-chain security. For 10 years until 2011 Jeannie was responsible for worldwide advice on all aspects of the FCTC treaty and Protocol including leading delegations to Geneva negotiations and is a known FCTC expert.
Reem Ibrahim (United Kingdom)
Reem is the Communications Manager and Linda Whetstone Scholar at the Institute of Economic Affairs. She regularly appears on television and radio, including the BBC, LBC, GB News, TalkTV and more, and has written for various national press including the Telegraph, the Spectator, CityAM, the Express and others. Reem has a particular interest in consumer choice, tobacco harm reduction and tax policy and is the co-author of “A Vapid Solution: Why a ban on disposable vapes would be a failure of law enforcement”.
Clive Bates (United Kingdom)
Clive Bates has operated in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors for many years. He was Director of Action on Smoking and Health (UK) at the turn of the century, campaigning to reduce the harms caused by tobacco. He then joined Prime Minister Blair’s Strategy Unit as a civil servant and worked in senior roles in the public sector and for the United Nations in Sudan. He is now Director of Counterfactual, a consulting and advocacy practice focussed on a pragmatic approach to sustainability and public health.
Martin Cullip (United Kingdom)
Martin Cullip is a former company director and International Fellow of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Consumer Center, who has written and blogged on free market and lifestyle consumer issues for over a decade. As a user of e-cigarettes and other safer nicotine products, he is a particularly passionate consumer advocate for all forms of tobacco harm reduction and has a keen interest in the rapidly evolving nicotine market and the politics surrounding it. Martin is a former Chair of UK educational charity, The New Nicotine Alliance, and has taken part in parliamentary evidence sessions and consumer, industry, and political events on the subject domestically and internationally.
Carmen Escrig, PhD (Spain)
With a PhD. in Cell Biology and Genetics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, she is the founder, coordinator, and/or scientific advisor of different organizations related to Smoking Harm Reduction, such as the Spanish Medical Platform for Tobacco Harm Reduction, composed of about 30 doctors, professors, and health professionals, as well as the Spanish Association of Personal Vaporizers Users (ANESVAP). She is the organizer of THR SUMMIT SPAIN, the first scientific congress on Tobacco Harm Reduction in Spain. She has attended or participated as a speaker in several congresses related to THR. He also collaborates actively with users and scientific organizations in Latin America.
Konstantinos Farsalinos (Greece)
Konstantinos Farsalinos, MD, MPH, is a physician and a research associate at the University of Patras and the University of West Attica in Greece. His field of expertise is Public Health. He has been conducting laboratory, clinical and epidemiological research on smoking, tobacco harm reduction and nicotine products as principal investigator since 2011. He authored the first systematic review on e-cigarette safety/risk profile, published in 2014. Additionally, he has performed research and published studies on heated tobacco products. His findings have been presented in major international scientific congresses and his studies were used in preparing the regulatory framework on e-cigarettes by the European Union. As of early 2023, he has published approximately 100 studies and articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, mostly about smoking, tobacco harm reduction and alternative-to-smoking nicotine products.
Ignacio Leiva (Chile)
Ignacio Leiva is a journalist specialized in informatics and multimedia platforms. In 2010, he led the communication campaign to prevent the vaping ban in Chile. Since then, he has focused on strengthening the community of electronic cigarette users, making them more informed and aware. He is the founder and current president of the Association of Vaporizer Consumers of Chile (ASOVAPE) and serves as the secretary of ARDT Iberoamerica. He organized the first pro-vaping public demonstration in Latin America and promotes communication campaigns for tobacco harm reduction in Chile and worldwide. Ignacio was legislative process concerning electronic cigarettes in Chile, which ultimately led to the enactment of Chile's vaping law, which came into force this year.
Adam Hoffer (United States of America)
Adam Hoffer is the Director of Excise Tax Policy at the Tax Foundation. Dr. Hoffer earned his PhD in Economics from West Virginia University and his undergraduate degree from Washington & Jefferson College. Prior to joining the Tax Foundation, Dr. Hoffer was the Menard Family Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the inaugural Director of the Menard Family Midwest Center for Economic Engagement and Research. Dr. Hoffer was also a Bradley Freedom Fellow with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and a senior editor with the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. Dr. Hoffer published more than 30 peer-reviewed academic journal articles and he is the lead author and editor of two books: For Your Own Good: Taxes, Paternalism, and Fiscal Discrimination in the Twenty-First Century and Regulation and Economic Opportunity: Blueprints for Reform. He lives in La Crosse, Wisconsin with his wife and two children.
Nancy Loucas (New Zealand)
Nancy’s THR advocacy began in 2015 as one of the founders/co directors of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA) in New Zealand, doing battle for the rights of vapers to be able to access what they need to become/remain smoke free. Nancy is also the Executive Coordinator for the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA). CAPHRA supports consumer THR advocacy organisations and activities throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond, and has developed various programmes for consumers including the Voices4Vape online seminar series, sCOPe consumer livestream, the Advocates Voice online newscast and the Advocates Voice Live sessions.
Mark Oates (United Kingdom)
Mark Oates is the Director of We Vape and the Snus Users Association, which are both consumer groups standing up for the right of individuals to use safer nicotine products. He advocates for evidence-based harm reduction in a range of areas from tobacco to drug policy, a subject he has written on for the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Adam Smith Institute, where he is a Fellow. He also provided consumer evidence in the 2018 ECJ case to overturn the ban of snus across the European Union and worked on the successful 2018 campaign to legalise medical cannabis in the UK.
Clarisse Yvette Virgino (Phillipines)
Clarisse has been actively involved in tobacco harm reduction (THR) advocacy since 2018 and serves as the Philippine representative for the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA). Having transitioned from smoking to vaping herself, she focuses on promoting consumer rights and access to THR products, particularly in LMICs, while exploring the cultural, psychological, and economic factors that influence smoking cessation. She holds a Juris Doctor degree and enjoys scuba diving.
Maria Papaioannoy (Canada)
Maria Papaioannoy is the founder and spokesperson of Rights 4 Vapers (R4V), Canada’s largest movement advocating for access to safer nicotine products. She has led nationwide protests against restrictive policies, ensuring the voices of those who rely on these alternatives are heard. Maria’s advocacy began in 2014 with Vapor Advocates of Ontario, and in 2019, she launched R4V to push back against government overreach. For over a decade, she has engaged with legislative bodies, public health units, and media to challenge provincial and federal flavour bans. In 2024, under her leadership, R4V collected and mailed over 100,000 letters to elected officials, marking one of Canada’s largest consumer-led advocacy efforts.
Liza Katsiashvili (Georgia)
Liza oversees the World Vapers’ Alliance’s projects and partner relations. She has around eight years of experience managing activist groups and working with grassroots movements. Over the past four years, Liza has been actively advocating for tobacco harm reduction, promoting evidence-based policies and raising awareness about safer alternatives for adult smokers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).
Gabriel Oke (Nigeria)
Gabriel Oke is a Medical Laboratory Scientist and communications professional with expertise in tobacco harm reduction (THR) research and advocacy across low- and middle-income countries. He leads THRJourno, an initiative advancing THR in Africa through research, social media campaigns, workshops, and training programmes. Gabriel holds a Master’s in Global Health Delivery(Healthcare Management) from the University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda and is completing an MSc in Medical Leadership at Lancaster University.
Dr Rohan Andrade De Sequeira (India)
Prof Dr Rohan Andrade De Sequeira is distinguished Consultant CardioMetabolic Physician from Mumbai, India, with an extensive career spanning over 20 years. He specializes in Non-Invasive Cardiology, Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Management, and holds senior consultant positions at prestigious institutions such as Jaslok Hospital, St. Elizabeth Hospital, S.L. Raheja Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, and Breach Candy Hospital.
Jeff Smith (United States of America)
Jeff Smith explores tobacco control and harm reduction from the perspective of clarifying the risks associated with the use of combustible products and the potential of reduced-risk nicotine products to ameliorate disease and death related to smoking. Before joining R Street’s Integrated Harm Reduction team, Jeff was a principal scientist in the science and regulatory affairs group at Reynolds American Inc. There, he developed and implemented research procedures to evaluate reduced-risk products—including a novel technique to measure how individuals use electronic nicotine delivery systems—and explored opportunities for potential new product categories beyond nicotine. During a 20-year career in academia, Jeff served as endowed chair of health sciences at Saginaw Valley State University and held professorships at universities in Oregon and Ohio. He published widely in neuroplasticity literature, mentored countless undergraduates, held multiple leadership positions, and taught a variety of courses in the behavioral and neurosciences. Jeff holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Georgia College and State University and a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience from Emory University.
Chris Snowdon (United Kingdom)
Christopher Snowdon is the head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. His research focuses on lifestyle freedoms, prohibition, and policy-based evidence. He is a regular contributor to the Spectator, The Critic and spiked and often appears on TV and radio discussing social and economic issues. Snowdon’s work encompasses a diverse range of topics including ‘sin taxes’, state funding of charities, happiness economics, ‘public health’ regulation, gambling and the black market. He is the editor of the European Nanny State Index and the author of six books: Polemics(2020), Killjoys (2017), Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism (2015), The Art of Suppression: Pleasure, Panic and Prohibition Since 1800 (2011), The Spirit Level Delusion (2010) and Velvet Glove, Iron Fist (2009).
Bengt Wiberg (Sweden)
Bengt Wiberg is a Swedish former CFO that became a celebrated harm reduction activist and the inventor of the Stingfree / PROTEX® technology. As the founder of EUforsnus Bengt has strived to legalize snus in the EU as a much healthier alternative to smoking that could see the EU daily smoker rates drop to the very low levels present in Sweden. His invention has a US/Europe patented built in protective barrier for the gums that reduces the burning sensation and irritation of the gums. The Protex® has been endorsed in an international scientific study 2025 and published in Acta Odontologica Scandinavica and National Library of Medicine (PubMed). He hopes that Stingfree will contribute to a smoke-free world by lowering the threshold for smokers to make the switch to much safer pouch products and for existing adult snus and nicotine pouch users to enjoy these without oral discomfort and irritation.
Dr. Roberto A Sussman (Mexico)
Dr. Roberto A Sussman (PhD University of London) is a full-time senior researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Nuclear Sciences of the National University of Mexico. His main research areas are General Relativity and Cosmology, but he has conducted research in other areas of Physics, including peer reviewed publications on e-cigarette aerosols. He is actively advocating for an appropriate regulation of Tobacco Harm Reduction products in Mexico. He directs and supervises the effort to spread scientific information on these products, as well as advising consumers on how to counter the governmental misinformation and prejudice about them that is rampant throughout Latin America.
Sairah Salim-Sartoni (United Kingdom)
Sairah is a chartered health psychologist and award-winning stop smoking clinician with 20 years of experience within the smoking cessation, public health and tobacco harm reduction sector. After her time in public health she worked with Juul Labs within scientific engagement assisting the leadership team within their THR work program. She is currently the managing director of Salim-Sartoni Associates (SSA) which provides successful scientific/clinical and regulatory engagement services, consumer research and external affairs support for the vaping industry and training support for healthcare professionals on THR. She is an accomplished clinician, board adviser, non-exec director, international public speaker and trainer on tobacco harm reduction with the inspirational goal of leaving no smoker behind.
Diego Joaquín Verrastro (Argentina)
Dr. Diego Joaquín Verrastro is a Medical specialist in general surgery, Emergentology, Mini-invasive abdominal surgery, Ultrasonography and Obesity. Since 2021, he is the Spokesperson for Reldat (Latin American Network for the Reduction of Harms Associated to Smoking), a group of more than 30 medical and scientific professionals from multiple Latin American countries who advocate for the application of THR strategies in Latin America. As an ex-smoker, Doctor Verrastro knows first-hand the experience of quitting smoking thanks to vaping and that is why his personal interest is trying to help his patients who suffer from multiple comorbidities due to the dual condition of suffering from obesity and smoking.
Kurt Yeo (South Africa)
Kurt Yeo is the co-founder of VSML (Vaping Saved My Life), a consumer advocacy movement in South Africa. A former smoker of 20 years who finally managed to quit after discovering flavoured vapes 10 years ago. Kurt left a 16-year career in information systems to start a business in the then-fledgling vape industry. With growing negative reporting on electronic cigarettes, VSML was formed in 2017 as a testimonial portal for ex-smokers now vapers to share their stories on how vaping had changed their life. In 2019, Kurt decided to leave the commercial aspects of vaping and dedicate his time to educating, promoting, and addressing misinformation about electronic nicotine delivery products. In 2020 Kurt joined the global Tobacco Harm Reduction movement by becoming one of the first partners of the World Vapers Alliance (WVA) and later a board member of the WVA Advisory Board. Kurt is also an alumnus of the Knowledge Action Change Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Program. On the local front, Kurt engages with policymakers on tobacco and nicotine-related legislation and is currently on the committee developing standards for vaping products with the South African Bureau of Standards.
Jeffrey Zamora (Costa Rica)
President of Asovape Costa Rica, President of ARDT Iberoamerica, Director of Social Media and Audiovisual Producer for INNCO, recipient of the Enhanced Scholarship of KAC THRSP with a project on a documentary series called #Safer, and Project Leader for the Veritas Study of ECLAT (Spin-off of the University of Catania, Italy). Jeffrey Zamora has worked in Social Media and Marketing with NGOs, Governmental Entities, and Commercial Brands.
Joseph Magero (Nigeria)
Joseph Magero is the Chairman of Campaign for Safer Alternatives, promoting tobacco harm reduction and helping people quit smoking across Africa. He works at the intersection of public policy and health to support safer nicotine options and evidence-based regulation.
Dr. Tikki Pangestu (Indonesia)
Tikki Pang was former Director of Research Policy & Cooperation at the World Health Organization and has held academic appointments in leading universities in Asia. He is now Senior Independent Consultant at the Centre for Healthcare Policy & Reform Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia. His area of interest is in global health governance, pandemic preparedness and harm reduction strategies to mitigate public health challenges.
Dr. Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh (Malaysia)
Professor Dr. Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh is a public health, medical physician whose work is at the confluence of medicine, health economics and public health. As Professor of Public Health (Health Management and Health Economics) at National University of Malaysia, she is well-versed with the burden of non-communicable diseases on Malaysia’s health system and recognised as a prominent figure in public health, specialising in policy, economics, and community medicine. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table, particularly in advocating for public health issues, inequality, harm reduction and health financing.
Asa Saligupta (Thailand)
Asa is a former smoker who smoked for over 37 years and had tried almost all quit methods until he found vaping in 2005 and completely switched (quit smoking) over 15 years ago. Asa is an avid advocate of Tobacco Harm Reduction who resides in Thailand, the country that prohibits importation and distribution of vape products.
Dr. Mark Tyndall (Canada)
Dr. Mark Tyndall is internationally recognized for his contributions to HIV care and prevention, human rights, and drug policy reform. He was formerly the Executive Director of the BC Centre for Disease Control and Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He has over three decades of community-based research and advocacy experience with a focus on global health, drug use, HIV, and harm reduction. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, presented a 2017 TEDMED talk on harm reduction, and authored the 2025 book Vaping: Behind the Smoke and Fears.
Jacob Grier (United States)
Jacob Grier is a writer and journalist covering tobacco policy. His work has appeared in Reason, Slate, The Atlantic, and many other publications, and he is the author of two related books: The New Prohibition: The Dangerous Politics of Tobacco Control and The Rediscovery of Tobacco: Smoking, Vaping, and the Creative Destruction of the Cigarette. With nearly two decades on the beat, his coverage spans smoking bans, harm reduction, innovation, and the unintended consequences of prohibition. He is also the founder of the link-sharing app Seabird. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Carissa Düring (Sweden)
Carissa Düring is the Director of Considerate Pouchers Sweden, a consumer advocacy group dedicated to promoting a smoke-free world and consumers' rights to alternative products. She also studies clinical psychology at Uppsala University in Sweden. As an advocate, she brings attention to how successful nicotine pouches have been in helping Sweden achieve the lowest smoking rates in EU, and how the rest of the world can follow in its footsteps
Benjamin Elks (United Kingdom)
Benjamin joined the TaxPayers’ Alliance in 2021 after working in pensions for 7 years. Benjamin has a degree in Politics and War Studies. He regularly writes about sin taxes and attacks on individual liberty as well as appearing in the media covering issues effecting taxpayers.
Filip Tokic (Croatia)
Filip Tokić, a sociologist, is the founder and President of CROHM, the Croatian consumer association for reduced-risk alternatives to smoking, where he has been active for more than 10 years. Since the early days of e-cigarette regulation, he has been closely following the field and advocating for fair, evidence-based policies. Under his leadership, CROHM has initiated and supported various public campaigns to promote harm reduction and consumer rights, most notably the Biram bez dima (“I Choose Smoke-Free”) workshops that empower smokers with knowledge and encourage healthier choices.
Heneage Mitchell (Thailand)
Heneage Mitchell, commonly known as ‘H’, has been resident in Asia for over 40 years. He spent most of those decades working in regional media. In 2012, he established factasia, an independent consumer-oriented regional advocacy for rational debate about – and sensible regulation of – the rights of adult citizens throughout the Asia-Pacific region to choose to use tobacco or other nicotine-related products. Heneage enjoyed smoking for over 45 years before switching to vaping in 2016, since when he has never touched a cigarette.
Julio Ruades (Spain)
Julio Ruades is the spokesperson for ANESVAP (Spanish Association of Personal Vaporizer Users), a non-profit user organisation created to defend the right of all adults to use personal vaporizers to quit smoking. In addition to being a spokesperson for Anesvap, Julio has been a pro-vape activist for more than 15 years, well known on social networks for his YouTube channel "El Mono Vapeador" which has more than half a million subscribers. He is dedicated to promoting vaping and the science behind harm reduction methods among Spanish-speaking users around the world through interviews with Doctors, covering annual events such as the Global Forum on Nicotine, and helping vaping user organisations in Spain and throughout Latin America. He has received several awards over the years in different countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Spain, including the INNCO Roll of Honour for activist of the year (Warsaw 2019) and the Vlogger award in 2016.
Marina Murphy (Ireland)
Marina Murphy has more than 20 years’ experience across scientific research, communications, and engagement in the tobacco harm reduction and nicotine field. Previous experience includes senior scientific positions at Juul Labs and at BAT. Murphy has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She has been published across a range of scientific journals, including Drugs & Alcohol Today and Key Engineering Materials, as well as in the top-tier media outlets, including the BBC, NewScientist and The Irish Times.
Alberto Hernandez (Belgium)
Alberto Gómez Hernández is the Policy Manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance. Natural from Madrid, Spain and based in Brussels, Belgium, he graduated in Economics from University Carlos III of Madrid and has worked for various non-profit organizations and think-tanks. He is an experienced activist and passionate about tobacco harm reduction, which he actively promotes.