Two Faculty Members Receive Health Related Grants

Professors Michael Mackert and LeeAnn Kahlor have been awarded two grants to study health related issues. The University of Texas at Austin Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (CHPR) has funded Professors Mackert and Kahlor for a $20,000 pilot study to learn more about the cultural and socioeconomic factors influencing the use and processing of online information in low health literate audiences. This research will help lay the foundation for future interventions designed to communicate health information to these traditionally hard-to-reach audiences. Of particular interest in this project is what issues are at play when parents attempt to develop and monitor healthy eating and exercise habits in their children.

Professors Kahlor and Mackert will also work on a grant from the UT Center for Women's and Gender Studies. Professor Kahlor will be the principal investigator for the grant that will be studying the promotion of folic acid usage to prevent neural tube defects in Mexican-born immigrants.

Dr. Mackert's primary research focus is telemedicine, the provision of healthcare from a distance via telecommunication technology. His interests extend from health communication and literacy to online communities. His recent research has appeared in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, and the Journal of Palliative Care.

Dr. Kahlor's primary research interest is in health and environmental risk communication with an emphasis on information processing. She has won awards from the International Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for her research on science communication and television viewing.

For more information about these grants contact Professor Mackert at mackert@mail.utexas.edu.

4/25/2007