Louise Ross, a former nurse and care home manager, created and launched the first vape-friendly stop smoking service in the world, in 2014, as part of her role as service lead for Leicester City’s Stop Smoking Service. Inspired by people who had tried vaping and successfully quit smoking, she has continued in her other roles to support this popular and effective way of stopping smoking. She is a clinical consultant at the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, a community interest company funded by the UK Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. She is also the Smoking Cessation Lead for the Smoke Free app, a comprehensive digital stop-smoking service, and is Chair and mental health lead for the New Nicotine Alliance, a charity devoted to education on tobacco harm reduction using safer non-combustible nicotine products. Louise writes occasional articles for nursing and medical journals, delivers workshops on vaping, to better educate health and social care workers, and is a regular media contributor for the big stop-smoking events such as New Year, National No Smoking Day and Stoptober.
She has no affiliation with the tobacco or vaping industry.