CATCH My Breath

CATCH My Breath was developed and custom built with input from school administrators, health education coordinators, tobacco prevention educators, classroom teachers, students, and parents. CMB has been formatively evaluated and pilot tested at 59 middle schools in 7 states, resulting in positive feedback from over 100 middle school teachers and almost 10,000 6^th-8^th grade students. Our second pilot test was a pretest-posttest controlled experiment (2017-2018) and resulted in a treatment-control difference of 3.8% in ever smoking over a 16-month period. The research team, along with the CATCH Global Foundation, have developed a digital school-health program distribution framework which includes in-person and online teacher training.

The CATCH My Breath trial is conducted by researchers at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health in Austin, with funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH). 

Partners of the CMB include: 

• CATCH Global Foundation
• National Institute of Health
• CVS Health
• Discovery Education

• The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health

People: 

Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator 

Dale Mantey, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Fellow 

Tara Nouveau, MEd, MPH
Project Manager 

Onyinye Omega-Njemnobi, PhD, MBBS, MPH
Postdoctoral Fellow 

Andrew Springer, DrPH
Co-Investigator 

Felisa Ruiz, MPH
Research Associate 

Boajiang Chen, PhD
Co-Investigator

Kymberle Sterling, PhD
Co-Investigator

Duncan Van Dusen, MPH
Founder & CEO at CATCH Global Foundation

Sarina Attri

Baojiang Chen, PhD

Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH

Onyinye Omega-Njemnobi, MBBS, MPH

Andrew Springer, DrPH

13 Investigates controversial Texas crackdown on e-cigarette use in schools in HB114

ABC 13 interviewed Steve Kelder, PhD, on Texas' HB114, a controversial law that went into effect this year and aims to curb e-cigarette use among students.

New vaping law lands hundreds of North Texas students in alternative school

Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH, talked to the Dallas Morning News for a story about new vaping laws.

Celebrating the 10-Year Anniversary of CATCH Global Foundation: A Research & Resource Round-Up

Join us in celebrating CATCH Global Foundation’s 10-year anniversary by learning more about its resources and the research from Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living investigators that provides the evidence base for this work.

Youth Vaping Prevention Program To Be Introduced

Catch My Breath, a UTHealth Houston School of Public Health program, was mentioned by The Greeneville Sun in its coverage of a meeting of the Greene County Anti-Drug Coalition in Tennessee, which considered disseminating the program into its school districts.

Hundreds of Houston-area students disciplined for vaping under new Texas law

The Houston Chronicle interviewed Steven Kelder, PhD, on the impacts a new Texas state law that requires public schools to remove any student from class who is caught with an e-cigarette and send them to a separate center designated for students in serious trouble, could have on students.

‘Catch My Breath’ campaign stops in Leander to warn of vaping dangers

With all the new cases of respiratory illnesses connected to vaping, parents want to know all there is to know about it. There was a special presentation as part of the national “Catch My Breath” campaign Tuesday night in Leander at the Running Brushy Middle School’s PTA meeting.

CATCHING FIRE: UTHealth Program Reduces E-Cigarette Use Among Youth

It’s time to catch your breath. Actually, that would be CATCH My Breath, a UTHealth School of Public Health program on the frontline of the battle to reduce or eliminate the use of e-cigarette products in schools.