Panel discussion: The evidence - Aligning science, regulation and public perception
This session will provide an update on the evidence driving safer vaping and alternative nicotine‑delivery products. Speakers will highlight the science and public health research including behavioural and regulatory insights around harm reduction and practical ways to strengthen the connection between scientific evidence, regulatory approaches, and public understanding—helping ensure that adults who smoke have access to accurate, balanced information about the full range of harm-reduction options available to them.
Session Speakers
Sairahis a chartered health psychologist and award-winning stop-smoking clinician with 20 years of experience within the smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction sector.
She is currently the managing director of Salim-Sartoni Associates(SSA).
A passionate and effective category leader and expert,Sairah provides successful scientific/clinical engagement/project management/regulatory and external affairs support for the vaping industry in addition to providing category training to healthcare professionals onthe evidence base to decrease misinformation and increase confidence in vaping as a stop smoking tool.
More recently she has supported the onboarding of clients onto the Swap to Stop platform and is excited to be part of a national programme that focuses on giving the most vulnerable smokers in our society a potential exit from tobacco. She is an accomplished advocate and public speaker on tobacco harm reduction with the inspirational goal of leaving no smoker behind.
Ian is an independent consultant with expertise in regulatory and scientific aspects of nicotine and tobacco products. His consulting work encompasses clinical and behavioural studies of tobacco and nicotine products for regulatory submissions in the US and Europe, and he has a wealth of experience of both consumer goods and medicinal licensing submissions. His 17 years working in the Tobacco Harm Reduction arena has included roles as Senior Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs EMEA with JUUL Labs, Director of Tobacco Research with Celerion, and Principal Scientist and Head of Clinical Research at British American Tobacco. As well as his consulting, Ian is a Scientific Advisory Board Member with Qnovia, a medtech startup seeking authorisation for a novel NRT in the UK and the US, and is also an Independent Non-Exec Director with Advanced Inhalation Rituals (AIR), a global shisha manufacturer.
Christopher Russell, Ph.D. is a behavioural scientist and Director of Russell Burnett Research and Consultancy Ltd (RBRC), Glasgow, United Kingdom. Dr Russell leads the design, conduct, and reporting of perception and behavioural research studies of reduced-risk tobaccoand nicotine products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS, vaping products), heated tobacco products, and modern oral products (e.g., nicotine pouches, film strips). RBRC’s studies are designed to inform regulatory evaluations of the potential impact of marketing a new tobacco/nicotine product on future tobacco use behaviour and population health.
Rachael Trimpert Schmidt, CAPT, USPHS (Ret.), is a former senior officer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products and a regulatory strategy advisor with more than two decades of experience in federal public health, laboratory compliance, and tobacco product regulation. As Assistant Director for Laboratory Compliance and Coordination at FDA, she led national initiatives supporting implementation and enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
During her tenure at FDA, CAPT Schmidt established and coordinated the agency’s tobacco regulatory laboratory framework and oversaw product testing and compliance programs. Her work spanned premarket application reviews, post-market surveillance, adverse event assessments, and the development of tobacco product standards, requiring continuous coordination across FDA centers, federal agencies, and international regulatory bodies.
Drawing on an extensive professional network developed through years of senior regulatory service, CAPT Schmidt provides strategic advisory support informed by deep institutional knowledge and real-world regulatory insight. She advises a number of organizations navigating complex, high-stakes regulatory, enforcement, and compliance challenges within the tobacco and nicotine sector.
