Graphic Medicine In the Air is built to foster conversations with young people around vaping, choices around substance misuse, and risk and protective factors. This is a graphic novel-styled story of five teens going through high school, built through the stories, interest, and ideas of members of the Tobacco Free Rhode Island Youth Ambassadors. The novel has questions to help guide discussion, a strong research base, and roots in risk and protective factors. Join us to learn more about the novel, how you can use it in your work, and learn how to order your copy (free, in print or in PDF).

About the Presenter: Daniel Fitzgerald, MPH, ICPS is the National Senior Manager of Advocacy for the American Lung Association and serves as the advocacy lead for the State of Rhode Island. Dan’s educational background is in prevention science, social marketing, nonprofit management, and public health.

Dan began his journey in substance use prevention and tobacco control at the age of 12 as a youth advocate in his community. Dan has worked at the state, local, and national levels with nonprofits and state and federal agencies working to address tobacco use as a public health and as a social justice issue. Recently, Dan was recognized for his impact in the world of tobacco control and received the 2019 C. Everette Koop Unsung Hero Award in honor of the late United States Surgeon General.

In addition to Dan’s role at the Lung Association, he serves as the Executive Director for the Chariho Youth Task Force which is the substance use prevention and mental health promotion coalition working in Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond, RI. Dan played a pivotal role in editing the story creatively as well as for prevention content.

Dan served as the content expert on the creation of In the Air.

About the webinar: This webinar was developed to address a need identified in HHS Region 1 (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI) to provide substance misuse prevention professionals with tools for substance misuse prevention, specifically for vaping prevention This webinar is hosted through the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, a program funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA), SAMHSA Cooperative Agreement #5H79SP081020-03.