Dr. Williams will discuss how youth get access to alcohol online, the scope of the problems with Internet alcohol sales, the regulatory issues surrounding online alcohol sales, how to restrict online alcohol sales, and the impact that COVID has had on online alcohol sales and the research aiming to address preventing youth access.
Rebecca S. Williams Ph.D., M.H.S., is a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, has spent more than 20 years studying the sales and marketing practices of websites that sell age-restricted products such as tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol, kratom, and cannabis, with a keen eye towards policy change related to youth access prevention and tax evasion. This research has had a strong impact on shaping state and federal policy surrounding Internet tobacco product sales. Additionally, for over 15 years, Dr. Williams has been the Chief Technology Officer for the national CDC-funded Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network, which focuses on development and dissemination of evidence-based approaches to cancer control. Dr. Williams, who was trained at the University of Rochester, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and University of North Carolina School of Public Health, is the author of numerous scientific articles in journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the American Journal of Public Health, and Tobacco Control.