WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) today announced that Michael Fiore is the recipient of the 2024 Gustav O. Lienhard Award for Advancement of Health Care in recognition of his unwavering leadership in reducing the toll exacted by tobacco use. Fiore has transformed the way the U.S. medical community treats smoking by addressing tobacco dependence consistently and effectively as an intrinsic element of health care. The award, which honors Fiore’s achievements with a medal and $40,000, will be presented at the NAM Annual Meeting on Oct. 20. Fiore is the University of Wisconsin Hilldale Professor of Medicine and co-founder of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention.
For more than three decades, Fiore has contributed to research, policies, and tools that have helped smokers to quit; equipped health care systems to identify and address tobacco use among patients; and increased federal funds dedicated to this pervasive and inequitable public health challenge. In a seminal series of articles published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1988, Fiore demonstrated that smoking had become a chronic disease concentrated among individuals with few resources and little education. Fiore synthesized data on the health costs of smoking, the concentration of such costs among vulnerable populations, and the harm of inattention to tobacco use by health care providers to craft a programmatic, evidence-based plan that would challenge American medicine to provide treatment for every smoker. The first step was his proposal in 1991 that information about smoking status be collected for every patient at every health care visit. This approach has been adopted nationwide, and more than 95 percent of clinic visits in the U.S. now include documentation of smoking status.
Fiore served as chair of the three U.S. Public Health Service clinical practice guideline panels that summarized the scientific literature on smoking treatment. The products of this work, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, published in 1996, 2000, and 2008, serve as the basis for the clinical treatment of tobacco use in the U.S. and worldwide. The impact of these guidelines has been profound; the findings are woven into federal legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, health system algorithms, and electronic health record platforms. The guidelines have been translated into several languages, and over 5 million copies have been distributed worldwide. His work also included the establishment of 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a federal quitting advice hotline available in every state, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Since its launch in 2004, the hotline has received more than 10 million calls.
In 2005, Fiore served as an expert witness at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its landmark 2005 lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Fiore formulated and presented to the court a $130 billion, 25-year plan to help 33 million smokers quit. In addition, he directed the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Center Cessation Initiative, a $30 million initiative to transform oncology care so that cancer patients who smoke are treated for tobacco dependence, which led to over 100,000 cancer patients receiving cessation treatment. Fiore was elected as a member of the NAM in 2012.
“Dr. Fiore’s tremendous efforts throughout his career have played a major role in reducing the number of people who smoke, resulting in public health benefits both in the U.S. and worldwide, such as reductions in premature or underweight births and risks of cardiovascular disease and cancers,” said NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “These benefits aid not only smokers, but their loved ones, and society in general. Dr. Fiore is most deserving of this prestigious award.”
Fiore is the 39th recipient of the Lienhard Award. Given annually, the award recognizes outstanding national achievement in improving personal health care in the United States. Nominees are eligible for consideration without regard to education or profession, and award recipients are selected by a committee of experts convened by the National Academy of Medicine. This year’s selection committee was chaired by Clyde W. Yancy, vice dean for diversity and inclusion; Magerstadt Professor of Medicine; professor of medical social sciences; and chief of the Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The Lienhard Award is funded by an endowment from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Gustav O. Lienhard was chair of the foundation’s board of trustees from the organization’s establishment in 1971 to his retirement in 1986 — a period in which the foundation moved to the forefront of American philanthropy in health care. Lienhard, who died in 1987, built his career with Johnson & Johnson, beginning as an accountant and retiring 39 years later as its president.
The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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