World Health Organization "World No Tobacco Day" 2025 Award!

Lisa Lu, founder and CEO of IYTC was recently awarded with the World Health Organization's World No Tobacco Award!

Full of gratitude, hope, and thankfulness, Lisa tells us, "This World No Tobacco Day, I’m truly honored to receive the 2025 WHO World No Tobacco Day Award — a milestone that reflects the strength of youth-led advocacy.

Thank you to the World Health Organization for this recognition and for uplifting the voices of young people taking on the tobacco industry.

My journey has always been grounded in moments like when a student once told me, “I’ll educate my dad to quit smoking.”  That reminder, that education saves lives and that young voices can transform public health, continues to guide me.

Through International Youth Tobacco Control (IYTC), we’ve worked toward real change, from helping pass Prop 31 to ban flavored tobacco in California to closing the synthetic nicotine loophole through HR 2471 in Congress.

I’ve spoken at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, and IYTC will be in the Philippines to keep pushing forward on education and policy.

To the IYTC team, this award is ours. A special shoutout to those who have been with IYTC for so many years — Aris, Elaina, Allie, Samhita, Sahiti, Kaelin — and to every single student who has given their time, energy, and passion to this fight."