Staff Biography

Deborah Hudson Buckles, is the Tobacco Control Lead of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. Ms. Buckles has received her Bachelor of Science degree in Respiratory Therapy, the National Certificate in Tobacco Treatment Practice, is a certified-UMass TTS trainer and serves on a couple of national organizations including the Council for Tobacco Treatment Training Programs and the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence.

Employed by the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center (IUSCCC) since 1997, the first 13 years of Ms. Buckles’ career was dedicated to helping individuals overcome their tobacco addiction. Since 2008, Ms. Buckles has dedicated her career to the “Rethink Tobacco Indiana” project, focused on facilitating health systems change for tobacco treatment in behavioral healthcare settings across Indiana. Receipt of a grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Moonshot Initiative in 2017 allowed Ms. Buckles the opportunity to develop a tobacco treatment program for cancer patients and again work on health systems change for tobacco treatment this time in the cancer care setting. Currently, she oversees Tobacco Outreach in the IUSCCC Office of Community Outreach and Engagement and Rethink Tobacco Indiana, including the Tobacco Treatment Specialist course. During Ms. Buckles’ more than 25 years in the field of tobacco treatment she has coordinated and developed training programs for health care professionals and lay persons across Indiana, worked on multiple research efforts, provided technical assistance to many different types of healthcare organizations and recognized as a leader in the state on tobacco control efforts.