Lilianna Phan

Lilianna Phan, PhD, MPH, MS, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health & Prevention at Drexel University with a joint appointment in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. She leads The PHAN Lab, focused on reducing tobacco-related health disparities through community-engaged, mixed-methods research. Her work examines psychosocial factors influencing commercial tobacco and alcohol use among racially minoritized populations, particularly young adults, and leverages health communication science to design interventions.

Education: PhD in Behavioral and Community Health from the University of Maryland; MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Temple University; MS in Biomedical Sciences from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; BS in Psychology from Saint Joseph's University.

Research interests include tobacco regulatory science, health disparities, racism/discrimination impacts, and community-driven interventions. She is a member of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center's Cancer Risk and Control Program and part of Drexel's FIRST (Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation) program.

Key achievements include NIH and Prevent Cancer Foundation awards, postdoctoral training at NIMHD and Georgetown Lombardi, and leadership in tobacco control advocacy. Her lab emphasizes multidisciplinary approaches, including qualitative research, experimental methods (e.g., eye-tracking), and policy analysis.

Awards: NIH Summer Research Mentor Award (2020-2022), 2020 Richard C. Devereaux Award.

Lab collaborations include community stakeholders and institutions like the Urban Health Collaborative. Current projects address Gen Z smoking trends, marketing impacts on youth, and equitable tobacco policy implementation.