[3][4][5] He was a coordinator, creator, and researcher for the Smoking Tobacco and Cancer Program at the NCI, the largest anti-smoking campaign in the world at that time.

[3] He was a Quimet Scholar and a PBS predoctoral fellow, and participated in a National Science Foundation Summer Research Program.

[4][5][2] In 1982, he returned to the NCI in Bethesda, Maryland as the deputy director of the Cancer Prevention and Control division.

[6][11][5] Significant amounts of money were poured into STCP to make it the largest program of its kind in the world; it was planned to leave the research stage and enter the public health sphere in 1991.

[2][15] He was also awarded the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Order of the Golden Sword for his work on STCP campaigns.

[5] He was also survived by a son, Neil (or Neal) of State College, Pennsylvania; a daughter, Jennifer of Berkeley, California; and a brother Richard and a sister Joan of New York.

"[7] Other recipients of this prize include Jonathan Samet (2002), Caryn Lerman (2004), Stanton Glantz (2005), Michael Thun (2007), Ronald Davis (posthumously) (2009), Stephen Hecht (2012), and K. "Vish" Viswanath (2014).

[19] In 1994, the first Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award was given to former Surgeon General Jesse Leonard Steinfeld by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC).

"[22][23] Past awardees include Courtney Atkins (2012) of Whole Child Leon for her work in establishing pre-K wellness and nutrition initiatives to decrease childhood obesity; and Kathleen Nolan (2014) of the National Association of Medicaid Directors for her work on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid sustainability.