Education

B.A., Communication Studies, University of Iowa (1999)
M.A., Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2001)
Ph.D., Speech Communication, University of Georgia (2009)

Postdoctoral Training

Kellogg Health Scholar, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2009-2011)
Cancer Prevention Training Program, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2011-2013)

Research Interests

I am interested in people’s perceptions of their risk for cancer and other chronic diseases and the extent to which they respond to risks with information seeking and the adoption of prevention and early detection behaviors. I focus on the identification of key social and cognitive predictors of health information seeking that may contribute to health and communication disparities. From an applied perspective, I am interested in how communication messages can strategically be used to increase prevention behavior and reduce health disparities via increased knowledge of cancer risks and health behaviors to lower risk and improve overall health. Current projects focus on the evaluation of family health history tools and development of tools to communicate genetic risk information.