Dr. Matthew Holman

Matthew is the Vice President and Chief Scientific & Regulatory Strategy Officer in our U.S. offices. He joined PMI after working more than 20 years with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most recently as Director of the Office of Science at the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). At CTP, Matthew was instrumental in building the FDA’s marketing application review programs. He served as CTP’s chief scientist, playing a significant role in guiding policy decisions, developing rulemaking and guidance documents, and overseeing a robust regulatory science research program for tobacco products. Previously, Matthew worked at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) on over-the-counter drug products, including as Deputy Director of the Division of Nonprescription Regulation Development. He received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Maryland at College Park.

See Matthew's article about common misconceptions about nicotine, where he explains why a proper understanding of its role in smoke-free products is important.

Matthew has introduced himself in an article that was previously published in Politico. A version of this article is republished below:

 

The end of smoking begins with making better choices

I’ve dedicated my entire career to improving public health for a simple reason: I lost my beloved grandparents to cancer and heart disease—both preventable illnesses caused by smoking.

I worked as a public health scientist for over 20 years at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including five and a half years as the top scientist at the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. My goal over the past decade has been to maximize moving smokers away from combustible cigarettes while minimizing youth use of tobacco products.

For smokers, the best choice is clearly to quit tobacco and nicotine altogether, but for those who don't, switching to a better alternative is a better choice than continuing to smoke. 

People might be shocked that a former public health scientist would work for a tobacco manufacturer. But, if you want people to stop smoking cigarettes, we need these companies to stop selling cigarettes. That’s why I joined Philip Morris International (PMI)—because that is their long-term goal, one that I fully support.

PMI is committed to significantly decreasing its sales of cigarettes and is the only major tobacco manufacturer to pledge to go smoke-free. Today, more than 30 percent of our total net revenue now comes from smoke-free products, with a goal to raise that to more than 50 percent by 2025.

There are hundreds of millions of adult smokers in the world today. PMI is here to change that, and I’m here to help make that vision a reality.

I am proud to be pushing for a smoke-free world, but PMI cannot achieve this public health goal alone. Here are three things we know will accelerate the end of cigarettes in America:

Better Options for Adult Smokers

American adult smokers who don’t quit should have access to a wide range of smoke-free alternatives.

Better Guardrails Against Underage Use

All of us—regulators, policymakers, and tobacco companies—must cooperate to guard against underage use by prioritizing enhanced age-verification technologies, retailer compliance, and responsible marketing.

Better Communication of the Facts 

Public health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the FDA, should provide adult smokers with accurate information about how smoke-free alternatives differ from cigarettes by avoiding the combustion of tobacco.

Everyone should be saying, “If you don’t use tobacco products now, don’t start. If you smoke, quitting is the best choice. If you don’t quit, change to a better alternative to cigarettes.”

Together, we can create a smoke-free future.