Biography

Dr. Forster's research interests center around the potential of public health policy to reduce the population rate of chronic disease risk factors. Currently Dr. Forster is principal investigator of the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort Study funded by the National Cancer Institute. This multilevel study combines individual cohort sequential, community-level longitudinal and statewide time series designs to assess the effects of tobacco control programs and policies on smoking during adolescence. Since 2001, Dr. Forster has collaborated with members of the American Indian community in the Twin Cities on a project to develop strategies to reduce commercial tobacco use among Native American youth. She was one of the founders of the Native Youth Tobacco Research Partnership (now the American Indian Community Tobacco Project), which is a community-based participatory research collaboration involving community members in the research development, data collection, interpretation and dissemination of results.