Want to add 5 to 20 minutes to your life? Put that cancer stick down. Want to double your chances of living past 65? Stop smoking. Increase your chance of fertility? Stop smoking. Decrease your risk for coronary heart disease? Stop smoking. Stroke? Stillbirth? Preterm delivery? Low birth weight? Sudden infant death syndrome? Stop smoking, stop smoking, stop smoking, stop smoking.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV/AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

Smoking, the CDC says, harms nearly every organ of the body, and causes an estimated 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths in men, and 80 percent of all lung cancer deaths in women.

On Wednesday, Jan. 23, the Division of Human Resources is partnering with Penn Medicine’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction (CIRNA) to help members of the Penn community kick their nicotine addiction once and for all.

From noon to 1 p.m. in Houston Hall, CIRNA co-director Janet Audrain-McGovern will discuss new insights into quitting smoking and how to participate in the Center’s MAPS for Quitting Smoking research project.

"HR tries to help faculty and staff become healthier in every way, and quitting smoking is one focus," says Marilyn Kraut, director of HR’s Quality of Worklife Programs. "Discounts on smoking cessation meds, information about resources in the community, and information on campus during lunchtime presentations are some of the ways we do this."

The MAPS program confronts a complex set of smoking cessation challenges by offering eligible participants an Internet-based training program, nicotine patches, and counseling for free. Participants will be compensated for time and travel. Call 215-746-8560 to find out if you are eligible.

To register for the Jan. 23 event, visit the HR website.

For more information about Penn’s smoking cessation resources, visit the HR website.