The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs (ATOD) Section invites submission of abstracts for presentation at the 2025 Annual Meeting & Expo during November 2-5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

The ATOD Section encourages abstracts under any of the submission categories described below, including abstracts that address the annual meeting theme of “Making Public Health a National Priority.” Submissions to the ATOD section may address novel research, evidence-based practice, and practice-based evidence that will extend our understanding of ATOD initiation, substance use, and substance use disorder. Submissions may focus on the epidemiology of substance use, specific policy or intervention strategies, and prevention or treatment initiatives, along with initiatives directed toward specific populations (e.g., K-12 students, college students, pregnant persons, employees/workers), or geographic areas.

All abstracts related to substance use are welcome. Substances of focus include, but are not limited to, alcohol, cannabis, opioids, stimulants, psychedelics, and tobacco/nicotine. The ATOD section values health equity in all content areas and encourages submissions that reflect a focus on social drivers of health, especially work centered on historically marginalized and/or underrepresented populations.

• A – Epidemiology
  Submissions under this category may include patterns or trends in substance use, associations with risk or protective factors, or co-occurrence of substance use with other health outcomes.
• B - Policy
  Submissions under this category focus on policy and systems approaches to address substance use and the negative consequences of substance use, including overdose and substance use disorders. Submissions may include innovative and promising policy and systems approaches across all levels of public and/or private/corporate policy, as well as those focused on select communities.

  The ATOD section is also interested in submissions that address the role of industry involvement in public health practice. In addition, the ATOD section is also interested in submissions that address how public safety and public health can work together to address substance use in communities.

• C - Prevention
  Submissions under this category may include the implementation, efficacy, or effectiveness of practices and programs aimed at prevention across the substance use continuum, (i.e., initiation, recreational use, regular use, persistent or chaotic use, or substance use disorder).
• D - Treatment and Recovery
  Submissions under this category may include the efficacy or effectiveness of various substance use disorder treatment and recovery programs (e.g., individual or group counseling, inpatient or outpatient treatment, mutual support groups, medications for substance use disorder, peer recovery support, recovery housing); barriers to treatment or recovery; and interventions to increase uptake and engagement in treatment and recovery.
• E - Harm Reduction
  Submissions under this category may include the implementation, efficacy, or effectiveness of practices and programs aimed at reducing the negative consequences of substance use (e.g., overdose, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries, infectious disease).
• F - Integrated Behavioral Health
  Submissions under this category may include the incorporation of research, policy, education, preventive and treatment interventions to collectively address the intersection of addiction and substance use disorder with mental health, well-being, stigma, political and social determinants or drivers of health, and chronic health conditions in clinical, collaborative care, and public health settings. Special emphasis is encouraged on addressing inequities in access to care and the impact on individuals, families, and communities. Please list 3-5 keywords that describes what is "Integrated" for your abstract.
• G - Disability and Substance Use
  Held in collaboration with the Disability Section, this roundtable will examine the unique needs associated with the prevention of substance use and related harms among individuals with disabilities.  Submissions under this category may include the epidemiology of substance use among individuals with disabilities; prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction programs and services tailored to the needs of individuals with disabilities; and innovative policies and systems approaches for individuals with disabilities.
• H - Psychedelics
  Held in collaboration with the ICTHP (Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices) and Mental Health sections, this session will explore the evidence, safety, efficacy, and policy landscape related to the use of psychedelics to improve health.
• I - Student Outstanding Work Award Candidate
  The ATOD Section seeks to recognize promising work by students in any ATOD topic area. To be considered for an award, students must submit an abstract under the Student Outstanding Work Award Candidate category as presenting author. Accepted abstracts will be included in a special poster or oral session highlighting student work. Award winners will be selected from poster/oral session participants and announced at the ATOD Section reception. Abstracts submitted to but not selected for the Student Outstanding Work Award Candidate sessions will be considered for inclusion in one of the other ATOD sessions.

Inclusive Language: Accepted abstracts must use person first, non-stigmatizing, and inclusive language. The words to describe substance use and the persons who use substances have an impact on both an individual’s willingness to seek and accept services and the willingness of local communities and healthcare systems to provide them. Therefore, authors should use phrases such as ‘persons who use substances,’ ‘substance use,’ ‘harmful substance use,’ ‘positive or negative drug screens,’ ‘return to use,’ and ‘medication for a substance use disorder’ and avoid terms like ‘addict, junkie, drunk,’ ‘substance abuse/abuser,’ ‘clean, dirty, failed drug test’, ‘relapse,’ and ‘medication assisted treatment.’ For more on person first language and vocabulary related to substance use please check out advice from NIDA or the ‘Addiction-ary’. If you have further questions on terminology, please contact the program planning committee chair. 

Industry Affiliation: The ATOD section will not accept abstracts that are submitted by individuals who have an association or affiliation with alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or other drug industries, their representatives (including legal), producers, wholesalers, retailers, associations, foundations, trade organizations, contractors or anyone receiving funding in part or whole for their work or research that is related to the abstract. Acknowledgement of this policy, and assurance of no industry association or affiliation, is required at the time of submission.

 

Abstracts are limited to 300 words or less.

Structured abstracts are preferred for submission to the ATOD Section, consequently, abstracts that do not reflect the following two formats may be less favorably scored by abstract reviewers.

• Original research submissions: the abstract should include the following sections: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
• Policy, descriptive, or other types of submissions: the abstract should include the following sections: Issue, Description, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations.

Authors must submit abstracts electronically through the APHA abstract management web site: https://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual.

Session Type: Authors may indicate their preference for “oral only,” “poster only,” or “no preference” at submission. Oral sessions are limited and highly competitive. We encourage authors to select “no preference” to maximize likelihood of acceptance.

Session proposals are not solicited in the call for abstracts; however, they will be considered. Presenters must submit an abstract for each individual presentation and an abstract for the overarching session. In the ‘Comments to Organizer’ text box located on the title step of the submission form, indicate the abstract ID numbers and presenter names of those abstracts that should be included as part of the session. Each abstract will be blind reviewed and accepted on its own merit and all abstracts must be accepted for the overarching session to be accepted.

CE Credits: APHA and the ATOD Section values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, veterinarians, and those certified in public health at its annual meeting.

Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials. For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter must provide:

• An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names; however speakers may mention trade and/or commercial product names during their presentations.
  • EXAMPLE: State “a major tobacco company” rather than naming the business or its products.
• At least one measurable learning outcome that uses one of the following action verbs: explain, demonstrate, analyze, formulate, discuss, compare, differentiate, describe, name, assess, evaluate, identify, design, define, or list. Please note that understand, know, and learn are NOT measurable learning outcomes and should not be used.
  • EXAMPLE: Compare risk of substance use disorders by gender and race/ethnicity.
• Conflict of Interest: Presenting authors must provide a conflict-of-interest disclosure and a qualification statement that specifically justifies their presentation of the material. A general statement of the author’s training or degrees earned is NOT sufficient.
  • EXAMPLE: I am qualified because I have worked in this area for the past 12 years. I was a member of the team that conceptualized this project and have been actively involved in all aspects of its execution, including the evaluation of outcomes described in this presentation.

The ATOD Section Program Planning Chair, Jessica Duncan Cance (jessica.cance@gmail.com), is available for any further questions.

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Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

Jessica Cance, MPH, PhD
jessica.cance@gmail.com