UVA School of Medicine mourns Bob Klesges, top expert in tobacco cessation

Dr. Bob Klesges, a professor in the UVA Department of Public Health Sciences for seven years, died unexpectedly on July2.

Klesges was director of the Center for Addiction and Prevention Research and one of the nation’s top experts regarding tobacco cessation and smoking’s health effects.

After earning a bachelor’s in psychology at Pepperdine, a master’s and doctorate in psychology at the University of Wyoming and interning at the University of Southern California’s School of Medicine, his career began in research at North Dakota State University. North Dakota is where Klesges established his first worksite smoking cessation programs and novel family-based approaches to childhood obesity prevention.

He came to UVA School of Medicine in 2017 after he served as director of the Center for Population Sciences at the University of Tennessee.

Since 1993, his research was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and he served as the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for five NIH grants. His grant portfolio exceeded $50 million and more than 300 of his papers appeared in peer-reviewed publications. He also held two patents.

Klesges contributed to the Surgeon General’s Report on the Health Consequences of Smoking seven times and contributed to the Institute of Medicine report on smoking and tobacco use in the military and among veteran populations. He served on and chaired multiple NIH study sections.

At UVA, Klesges focused on working with cancer survivors, projects to deter excessive binge drinking on college campuses and addressed the opiate addiction epidemic. His primary emphasis was research and collaborated with and mentored junior faculty at UVA and other academic institutions in the United States. Hi miliary and civilian projects were able to reduce the burden of addictions in the United States Air Force.

“Above all, Dr. Klesges was an extraordinary person, researcher and educator who was passionate about his work and the people it impacted. We will all greatly miss him and his legacy will endure,” UVA Health released in a statement. “Our thoughts are with Bob’s family members and his many colleagues and friends here at UVA.”