(FOX40.COM) - - The first-ever tobacco proving ground in California is coming to UC Davis.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center announced that it will introduce the Tobacco Cessation Policy Research Center after getting almost $4 million in financing from a state research agency.
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The mission of the center is to further carry out strong local and state tobacco control policies while also adding to the decrease of tobacco-related illness by helping individuals quit.

Richard L. Kravitz, director of UC Center Sacramento, said, "This new center has the possible to substantially minimize tobacco-related damage in our state."

" As the University of California's primary center for policy-related knowledge sharing in the state capital, we are happy to participate in advancing the training and dissemination aims of this grant," Kravitz included.

Elisa Tong, a nationally acknowledged tobacco scientist and an internist at UC Davis Health, will serve as the center's director. Tong is the medical director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center SToP: Stop Tobacco Program.

She is also principal detective for CA Quits, which works with the state's Medi-Cal managed care strategies and suppliers to improve tobacco treatment delivery, a press release specified.

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"Our center will generate evidence for policy adoption and implementation, team up with community and policy stakeholders, and develop the pipeline of scientists to sustain the objective," stated Tong.

According to officials within the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, tobacco usage is linked to 30% of all cancer-related deaths.