Zim Okoli, PhD, MPH, MSN, RN, CTTS, associate professor, recently received a state contract from the Department of Medicaid Services entitled “University Partnership – Behavioral Health Tobacco Dependence Treatment.” Despite steady declines in the smoking use prevalence of the general US population in the past five decades, little change has been observed in some vulnerable sub groups, specifically, individuals in behavioral health settings (i.e. those with mental illness and substance use disorders).