Hi, I'm Janelle! I am a proud triple-graduate of Penn State University (Ph.D., M.A., B.A.). I am a tenured Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications at the University of South Florida.  I also serve as Director of Internships and Concentration Head for the Integrated Public Relations and Advertising sequence. Most recently, I was named as Associate Director for the Center for Sustainable Democracy housed in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida.

I was recently nominated by USF President Rhea Law as the sole junior scholar (across the University system) for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program. This distinguished program was established in 2015 to provide philanthropic support to extraordinary scholars for high-caliber research in the humanities and social sciences.

My first book, Broadcast Pharmaceutical Advertising in the United States: Primetime Pill Pushers, examines how pharmaceutical advertisements frame benefit versus risk information. Notably, this work introduces the concept of “pharmaceutical fetishism,” providing research-informed evidence of the ways in which pharmaceutical advertising culture has influenced discourse to offer patients more than what prescription drugs are designed to treat (e.g., a better life).

 My second co-authored book with colleagues Dr. Travis R. Bell and Dr. Christian Dotson-Pierson, CTE, the Media, and the NFL: Framing a Public Health Crisis as a Football Epidemic, analyzes more than a decade of media coverage to unpack how media framed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in association with the National Football League (NFL), highlighting the critical importance of public health education through our media. As a recipient of the Outstanding Book Award from the National Communication Association’s Communication and Sport Division, this work has received praise for its impact on bridging public health issues with journalist education.

My educational training and continued research trajectory have provided me with the skills and knowledge necessary to execute large- and small-scale integrated marketing communications campaigns focused on health. I have a broad background in the field of mass communications, with specific training and expertise in qualitative research methods.

My research uses mixed-methods approaches to inform policy, health communication, and public discourse through the lenses of coordinated messaging design and advertising. I enjoy investigating how media, in varied forms, can be used to educate, increase awareness, or divide stakeholder populations. I have been successful in researching the pharmaceutical advertising industry and best practices for successful messaging. I have investigated how patients respond to these advertisements, using mixed-methods analytical approaches, and have been fortunate to more recently apply these same principles to the important, related areas of health equity and social determinants of health.

Since 2019, I have served as an Academic Consultant on the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I am able to attend various hearings and meetings in Washington, D.C. to provide my expertise on the following topics: agency guidance and policies, clinical trial or registry design, patient preference study design, benefit-risk determinations, device labeling, unmet clinical needs, available alternatives, patient reported outcomes and device-related quality of life or health status issues, and other patient-related issues.

In 2021, I was chosen as one of seven panelists to present my research to the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (with 600+ attendees) for their workshop titled The Future of Prescription Drug Promotion and Digital Marketing. In 2023, I was chosen as one of four panelists to present to the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and Office of Drug Promotion (with 700+ attendees) for their workshop titled Informing and Refining the Prescription Drug Promotion Research Agenda. Both events were hosted by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, a prestigious organization focused on improving health, health equity, and the value of health care through practical, innovative, and evidence-based policy solutions.

My secondary area of research emphasizes the broader field of health communication, focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of mass and interpersonal communications. In working as a lead- or co-researcher on numerous studies, I have been able to successfully navigate the intersectionality of applying mass communications principles to physician-centric stakeholder adoption of innovative policy-based health infrastructure changes. Through a consultation with the Health Informatics Institute at USF,  I led the research phases for the message design, testing, and dissemination for the recruitment of six international clinical trials for patients with rare diseases. The publications resulted from a body of work focusing on best practices for successful implementation of new mass communications or organizational changes across national and international healthcare settings. 

As a researcher focused on health communication, health equity, and advertising, I am most interested in developing normative frameworks to encourage proper patient education. My research explores the content of pharmaceutical advertisements, legal compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements, and issues of representation related to patients and healthcare in advertisements or mass-mediated efforts.

I have been fortunate to receive fellowships from the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication and the American Academy of Advertising, and my expertise has been solicited by national media outlets such as The New York Times and Bloomberg News.

In 2023, a co-authored publication in Journal of Applied Communication Research with colleague Dr. Elizabeth Hintz received the National Communication Association's Bill Eadie Distinguished Award for a Scholarly Article for the Applied Communication Division. This award is given to the authors of an outstanding article published in a communication journal and acknowledges significant contributions in applied communication theory, research, and/or practice.

I have been published in multiple high-impact, double-blind, peer-reviewed outlets, including: Journal of Medical Internet Research, Patient Education and Counseling, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Annals of Family Medicine, Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, BMC Medical Research Methodology, Journal of Health Communication, Qualitative Health Research, Journal of Interactive Advertising, and others. For a review of my work, welcomed collaboration opportunities, or media requests, please feel free to email me at applequist@usf.edu.