Joyce Swetlick received a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education from Texas A&M University and a Master’s in Public Health Health Behavior and Education from UNC School of Public Health. Joyce Swetlick started her career in tobacco control twenty-eight years ago in Northern Kentucky as a Health Educator in the district health department and became the first Tobacco Prevention Coordinator in the state. Although she worked in all areas of tobacco control, her primary interest is in tobacco treatment. She became a facilitator and master trainer in several cessation programs. She was also the lead curriculum developer for the tobacco education modules in Primary to High School for Kentucky Schools during her four years with the Kentucky Department of Education. Before moving to North Carolina, Joyce was a Program Project Manager for the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation and facilitated the launch of the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line and oversaw 12 community projects. She has been trained as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist from the Mayo Clinic, University of Massachusetts, the ACT Program of Mississippi, and the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey Tobacco Dependence Program. Presently she is one of six directors of the nationally accredited Duke-UNC Tobacco Treatment Specialist Credentialing Program.
Today, Ms. Swetlick is very proud to be part of the NC Public Health Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch as the Director of Tobacco Cessation for the past ten years. Her responsibilities with the Branch include building infrastructure to advance evidence-based tobacco cessation through NC providers, public and private health plans/payers, employers and community groups; and managing the NC Tobacco Use Quitline – QuitlineNC. In North Carolina, Ms. Swetlick has been trained in Quality Improvement and utilizes QI methods in her work with integrating tobacco use treatment in clinical, hospitals, and behavioral health settings. Joyce Swetlick has presented at several national conferences and is published along with colleagues in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine April 2009 “Clinical Faxed Referrals to a Tobacco Quitline: Reach, Enrollment, and Participant Characteristics.”