Dr. Susana Ramírez is a nationally recognized expert in media, inequality, and health. As an “infodemiologist”—trained in both communication and public health—Dr. Ramírez uses social scientific methods to advance public health goals. Her research aims to advance understanding of how the public information environment contributes to population health through policy agenda-setting, community action, and individual decision-making. A longstanding line of research considers the role of the public information environment on health outcomes and upends traditional behavioral research that (mis)characterizes Latinos, immigrants, and African Americans as having cultural orientations in opposition to healthy lifestyles. Rather, Dr. Ramírez’ findings provide a narrative for how communication may impact health disparities. Recent research extends this theorizing to advance understanding of the corporate and commercial determinants of health, including elaboration of a theoretical framework for racialized marketing.
Prof. Ramírez is co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare (Wiley). Her work has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Buoy Health, and the Hellman Family Foundation and has been featured in leading journals including Social Science & Medicine, American Journal of Health Promotion, BMJ-Global Health, and Millbank Quarterly.
She is currently an Associate Professor of Public Health Communication at the University of California, Merced, where she teaches courses in social science research methods, health communication, and health policy. Dr. Ramírez earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.P.H. from Harvard University.
Experience
2019–present
Associate Professor, University of California, Merced
Education
University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication, PhD
Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, MPH
Publications
2023
The communication of scientific information to scientists, clinicians, and the public: Recommendations for achieving health equity, Neurology
2023
Testing the Effectiveness of Narrative Messages Using Critical Health Communication, Journal of Communication in Healthcare
2023
Examining the role and strategies of advocacy coalitions in California's statewide sugar-sweetened beverage tax debate (2001-2018), American Journal of Health Promotion
2023
Communicating about the social determinants of health: Development of a local brand, Journal of Communication in Healthcare
2022
The racialized marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages: Perspectives and potential remedies, Journal of Medicine, Law, and Ethics
2022
Toward a recipe for deep versus surface level tailoring: Mixed-methods validation of message features to reduce sugary beverage consumption, Journal of Health Communication
2022
News coverage of Mexico’s front-of-package food label policy, BMJ-Global Health
2022
Segmented assimilation as a mechanism to explain the dietary acculturation paradox, Appetite
2020
Public awareness of air pollution and health threats: Challenges and opportunities for communication strategies to improve environmental health literacy, Journal of Health Communication
2020
Framing food access: Do community gardens inadvertently reproduce inequality? , Health Education & Behavior
2020
Media reporting on air pollution: Health risk and precautionary measures in national and regional newspapers, International Journal of Environmental and Public Health
2020
From ‘Infodemics’ to Health Promotion: A novel framework for the role of social media in public health, American Journal of Public Health
2019
Development of a participatory health communication intervention: An ecological approach to reducing rural information inequality and health disparities, Journal of Health Communication
2019
Assessing the impact of the public nutrition measure Diet Information Overload, Patient Education & Counseling
2019
Beyond fatalism: Information overload as a mechanism to understand obesity health disparities, Social Science & Medicine
Grants and Contracts
2019
A mobile phone-based pilot intervention to prevent obesity in Latino preschool children
Role:
Co-I
Funding Source:
National Institute of Minority Health & Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health
2018
Assessing the utility of a web-based diagnostic and decision-making tool
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Buoy Healthcare
2015
Innovative application of communication theory to increase Latino research participation
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health
2015
Breast cancer prevention mHealth intervention for rural Latinas
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health
2015
Communication for Partnerships to Improve Community Health – Merced County
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Merced County Department of Public Health
2014
Mapping the health information environment in a rural, culturally diverse region: Toward a transformative health information intervention to reduce rural and ethnic health disparities
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Hellman Family Faculty Fund
2014
A CBPR initiative to address obesity disparities for Latinos in the San Joaquin Valley
Role:
Co-I
Funding Source:
National Institute of Minority Health & Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health