25 years of pioneering tobacco research - right here in Tower Hamlets.
QuitRight Tower Hamlets isn't just a stop smoking service. It's the culmination of two decades of world-leading clinical research, culturally-sensitive outreach, and a single-minded mission: helping our community breathe easier.
The specialist tobacco cessation service
for Tower Hamlets.
Quit Right Tower Hamlets was formerly known as the ‘Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project’ - an innovative, pioneering service providing culturally-sensitive support for people who could not access mainstream stop-smoking services due to language and cultural barriers.
Today, we are the specialist tobacco cessation service for the borough, providing state-of-the-art stop-smoking medications and clinical expertise to help members of the community overcome tobacco addiction. Our service was formed in August 2017 through the merger of two independent services with deep roots in Tower Hamlets: the BME Stop Tobacco Project and the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit.
The BME Stop Tobacco Project
Queen Mary University of London has been researching and providing tobacco cessation services in Tower Hamlets for over 25 years in response to the high prevalence of smoking in our local community.
Formerly known as the Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project, it was the first of its kind - offering gender-specific advisors who understood the cultural and religious sensitivities faced by patients who might prefer same-sex advisors and language support.
The project pioneered stopping tobacco chewing amongst Bangladeshi women and smoking cessation among Bangladeshi men, and offered nicotine replacement to smokeless tobacco users - an entirely new approach at the time.
- Gender-specific advisors & language support
- Culturally-sensitive clinical care
- Support for paan & smokeless tobacco users
- Over two decades in Tower Hamlets
Queen Mary University of London
The Tobacco Dependence Research Unit
Founded almost 20 years ago, the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit (TDRU) is one of the founders of the European Centre of Excellence in Clinical Tobacco Research.
Under the direction of Professor Peter Hajek, the Unit was involved in the first published trials of several treatments now used globally, and was instrumental in developing the withdrawal-oriented treatment of tobacco addiction - now the primary approach used by the UK Specialist Stop Smoking Service, which treats over 600,000 smokers per year.
TDRU research has been instrumental in establishing current clinical practice and guidelines for treating tobacco dependency in the UK and worldwide.
Shaping national policy on e-cigarettes
Recently, the Unit has been at the forefront of research that informed Public Health England's landmark recognition of the tremendous potential for e-cigarettes to reduce smoking prevalence and nicotine addiction.
We are proud that many breakthrough advances in tobacco cessation theory and practice were pioneered right here in Tower Hamlets.
QuitRight Tower Hamlets synthesises the TDRU's and BME's individual expertise into a single focus. Each service has worked for over two decades in Tower Hamlets and built an exemplary track record of tobacco cessation success among local service users - offering our community an unparalleled level of expertise and experience.
The Wolfson Institute of Population Health
Formed in August 2021, the Wolfson Institute of Population Health merged the former Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine (founded in 1991) and the Institute of Population Health Sciences (founded in 2019).
The Institute is part of Queen Mary's medical faculty, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and delivers internationally recognised research and teaching in population health.
“By sharing knowledge and pushing the boundaries of research, we will continue to advance population health and preventive medicine on a global scale.”
- Professor Fiona Walter, Director, Wolfson Institute of Population Health
Watch our launch event
Hear directly from the team, health professionals and community members about how QuitRight Tower Hamlets is helping people quit for good.
Launch Event
Between Queen Mary, University of London
and Tower Hamlets Council.
Every consultation, every prescription, every quit is backed by decades of research and the trust of our community.
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