Katie Heley, PhD, MPH

Dr. Heley is a Post Doctoral Associate working with Drs Olivia Wackowski and Michelle Jeong. Katie received her PhD and MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and, as part of her doctoral training, also studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. She also graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University.

Prior to joining INTS, Katie was a Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) at the National Cancer Institute. Her work there focused on visual communication, health-related stigma, patient-provider communication, misinformation, AI and health, and the role of social media and short-form videos in health.

Dr. Heley’s scientific interests include the intersection of health and communication, using mixed methods to understand and influence attitudes, behavior, policy support and stigma around chronic, non-communicable diseases and their related behaviors. Her work focuses on health, visual, and policy communication; media and health; message effects, marketing, persuasion, and strategic communication around health behaviors; patient-provider communication; health-related stigma; and public health ethics. Katie also has extensive experience in intervention development, implementation, and evaluation; public health practice; program management; health literacy initiatives; and stigma-reduction efforts. She has worked in the areas of tobacco control, mental health, cannabis and substance use, diet, obesity, and cancer control and prevention.