Reston Hartsell

Biographical information:
My name is Reston Hartsell, and I am a third year Epidemiology Doctoral Student. Although I consider myself a South Carolinian, I was born in Greeneville, Tennessee. I met my wife at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville when I was working on my dual master’s degrees in Public Health Nutrition-Public Health. We moved to Columbia for my job as the Synar/Tobacco Prevention Coordinator for the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. Collecting, analyzing, and reporting substance use data for a couple of years sparked my interest in epidemiology. I enjoy cooking, ceramics, and spending time with my family (and beagle). 

Research interests:
I chose the University of South Carolina so that I could work with Dr. Anthony Alberg. My research interests include investigating the tobacco retail landscape, tobacco product compliance, effectiveness of tobacco prevention/control practices, short- and long-term health impacts of using electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and other substance misuse/abuse health disparities research.