RTI International's Center for Communication Science promotes informed decision making through strategic communication research, interventions, and campaigns. They develop evidence-based solutions to facilitate human-centered communication and influence behavior change. Their services include designing communication strategies and tools, conducting research, and delivering programs to create social impact.

1. www.rti.orgRTI International is a registered trademark and a trade name of Research Triangle Institute.

2. RTI's Center for Communication Science professionals
promote informed decision making by developing,
implementing, and evaluating strategic communications,
interventions, and campaigns for our clients.
Who we are…

3. Our Vision and Mission
Mission
Improve communication
and discourse about
scientific knowledge to
help people make informed
decisions regarding
individual behaviors,
community action, social
policy, and resource
investments.
Vision
Facilitate informed
decision making through
rigorous and innovative
communication
research, strategy, and
outreach.

4. Advance communication research and strategy.
Drive informed and engaged decision making.
Clarify scientific discourse for community action.
Engage communities in user-centered design.
Translate scientific knowledge for those
who can benefit.
Apply behavioral science insights.
Conduct rigorous research.
Create social impact.
Our Charge

5. Our goal is to be a trusted advisor to our clients by
applying best practices in communication
research, design, and delivery.

6. Our Services
We develop evidence-based solutions and messages to promote informed decision making and health literacy.
We test innovative tools and interventions to facilitate human-centered communication.
We advance clear communication about scientific and medical research.
We investigate how people seek, use, and process information related to decisions and actions.
We promote messages and materials to influence behavior change amongst diverse populations.
We apply effective dissemination and implementation strategies for social impact and knowledge translation.
We evaluate programs, policies, and campaigns using diverse qualitative and quantitative research methods.
We craft integrated marketing and media campaigns.
We manage subcontractors and multi-site community organizations for efficient project coordination.
We conduct rigorous analyses of experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal survey data.
DESIGN
RESEARCH
DELIVER
Applied Strengths: Theory-Based Formative Research | Outcome Evaluation | Research Dissemination | Innovative Methodologies
Applied Strengths: User-Centered Design| Behavioral Economics | Digital Strategy | Theory-Driven Tool Development
Applied Strengths: Social Marketing | Knowledge Translation | Science Writing | Cultural Sensitivity | Social Media

7. Our Competitive Advantage
We can provide…
• Best practices in behavioral economics,
psychology, and neuro-marketing
• Accessible communications
• User-centered program and
policy development
• Marketing and communication strategies
The Center for Communication Science is positioned to support clients
in using behavioral science insights to inform improvements in social
impact policies, programs, and operations.

8. Social Marketing
for Behavior Change
Show Your Love Campaign
Our Work
Health Education
and Marketing
HIV Screening. Standard Care.
Cross-Cultural
Communication
International Projects
Experimental Research Studies
Drug Advertisement Risk Perceptions
Research
Dissemination
Podcast, Speeches,
& New Media
Campaign Evaluation
Act Against AIDS
Risk Communication Research
Ebola Study
Strategic Planning
Stories of Discovery
Decision Aid
Development
NEXUS Study
User-Centered
Decision Making
Digital Informed
Consent Tool
Digital Health
Interventions
Positive Health Check

9. Communication
RESEARCH

10. Campaign Evaluation
Act Against AIDS (CDC)
Challenge
How can we evaluate the effectiveness of CDC’s Act Against AIDS (AAA) campaigns?
What We Did
 Conducted exploratory formative research,
message, concept and materials testing to
inform the development of both new and
refreshed consumer and provider campaigns.
 Developed a database to manage and
facilitate ongoing quarterly and annual
reporting of process evaluation metrics for 15
active campaigns and partnership activities.
 Conducted outcome evaluations to measure
campaign exposure and its association with
changes in attitudes, beliefs, intentions and
related prevention, testing, and care
behaviors.
Applied Strengths
Theory-Based Formative Research | Process and Outcome Evaluation

11. Experimental Research Studies
Drug Advertisement Risk Perceptions (FDA)
Challenge
How do comparative claims in prescription drug advertising affect consumers'
perceptions of risk?
What We Did
 Working with the FDA, RTI conducted
two nationally-representative
randomized trials on Direct-to-
Consumer advertisements.
 Created print and video study stimuli
advertisements for realistic fictitious
prescription drugs.
 Published results: Effects of
comparative claims in prescription
drug direct-to-consumer advertising
on consumer perceptions and recall
Applied Strengths
Survey Research | Experimental Design | Print/Video Content Development | Research Dissemination

12. Risk Communication Research
Ebola Study
Challenge
How do media sources affect public perceptions of Ebola during the outbreak?
What We Did
 Conducted a nationally representative
survey to assess Ebola knowledge,
perceived susceptibility and severity,
relative threat, confidence in government
and healthcare facilities, behavioral
intentions, and news sources.
 We tested for demographic differences on
attitudes and confidence.
 Performed a content analysis of online
news and Twitter posts characterizing
Ebola risk.
Applied Strengths
Survey Research | Media Analysis | Risk Communication

13. Communication
DESIGN

14. Challenge
How do we address gaps in the HIV continuum of care to increase viral suppression amongst
hard-to-reach populations of people living with HIV in a cost-effective and scalable way?
Applied Strengths
Theory-Based Formative Research | Evidence-Based Interventions | Digital Health | Implementation Science
What We Did
 Conducted formative research to inform the
development of Positive Health Check (PHC) and
ensure it would be relevant, feasible, and acceptable
for both patients and providers.
Digital Health Interventions
Positive Health Check (CDC)
 Developed scripts, filmed doctors, and designed
patient and provider handouts following plain language
guidelines, concepts of clear communication, feedback
from the TC panel, and expert opinions.
 Piloted PHC in four HIV primary care clinics to better
understand the implementation barriers, facilitators,
and solutions that need to be addressed before wider
testing, implementation, and dissemination.

15. Strategic Planning & Program Development
NCI’s Stories of Discovery
Challenge
How can we help clients relay the impact of
investments in cancer research to policymakers?
What We Did
 Launched NCI’s Stories of Discovery initiative
online and on social media.
 Developed infographics to help illuminate key
messages.
 Researched and crafted stories on
advancements in cancer research.
 Conducted a user assessment to gauge story
effectiveness.
 Tracked digital metrics and extracted
actionable insights.
Applied Strengths
Strategic Planning & Program Development | Science Writing | Social Media Marketing

16. User-Centered Decision Making
Digital Informed Consent Tool
Challenge
How do we assess consumer capacity to make decisions, and promote
more informed decision making about clinical trial participation?
What We Did
 Developed a plain-language decision
support tool to communicate the study
purpose, how the study works, benefits
of participating, risks of participating,
and ability to withdraw.
 Applied an iterative, user-centered design
and testing process.
 Assessed other potential uses for the tool,
including tailoring the tool for populations
with inherent cognitive or social
impairments
Applied Strengths
Health Literacy | User-Centered Design | Theory-Driven Tool Development

17. Decision Aid Development
The NC North Carolina Newborn Exome Sequencing for Universal Screening
(NEXUS) Study (NIH, NICHD, NHGRI, UNC)
Challenge
How can we give parents the information and support they need to make informed
decisions about receiving their child’s whole-exome sequencing (WES) results?
What We Did
 Conducted formative interviews with parents to examine how
couples communicate with each other when making decisions
about their child’s sequencing results and to gather feedback on
early drafts of decision aid content.
 Designed and implemented a discrete choice experiment to
understand how differences in characteristics among genetic
disorders influence parental preferences for receiving information
about their child from WES.
 Developed an interactive electronic decision aid to help parents
decide which types of WES findings they want to receive (if any),
applying user-centered design principles to craft plain-language
content, guide interface design and programming, and conduct
iterative user-experience testing.
Applied Strengths
Theory-Based Formative Research | Evidence-based Interventions | Knowledge Translation |
Innovative Quantitative Research Methodology

18. Communication
DELIVERY

19. Research Dissemination
Podcast, Speeches, Media, & Marketing
Challenge
How can we communicate the benefits of social science research to lay audiences?
What We Did
 CCS Program Director, Dr. Brian
Southwell, hosts “The Measure of
Everyday Life,” a weekly radio program
featuring social science researchers who
endeavor to improve the human
condition.
 Wrote speeches for Senior Federal
officials.
 Developed “AHRQ Views” blog for AHRQ
Director, Richard Kronick.
 Secured national speaking engagements
for AHRQ Director, Richard Kronick.
Applied Strengths
Message and Content Development | Marketing and Media Outreach | Digital Content Development

20. Challenge
How can we affect women’s prenatal health
behaviors using social marketing processes?
Applied Strengths
Social Impact | Digital Strategy | Digital Content Development | Behavioral Economics
What We Did
 With CDC, we developed Show Your Love, a social
marketing and communication campaign encouraging
preconception health among multicultural women.
 RTI trained 50+ CDC partners on how to use social
media to promote preconception health.
Social Marketing for Behavior Change
Show Your Love Campaign (CDC)
• Show Your Love has earned two Telly awards and a
Blue Pencil & Gold Screen award from the National
Association of Government Communicators.

21. Health Education and Marketing
HIV Screening. Standard Care.™ (CDC)
Challenge
How do we use marketing and education to facilitate
physician behavior change toward routine HIV screening?
What We Did
 Developed a peer-reviewed resource
center hosted on The American
Journal of Medicine website.
 Expanded the campaign’s social
media outreach through physician-led
speaker series blogs and Facebook,
Twitter, and Pinterest posts.
 Directed the development of
continuing medical education and
placement of physician-targeted print
and electronic advertising.
Applied Strengths
Social Marketing | Medical Education Development | Marketing and Media Outreach

22. Cross-Cultural Communication
International Projects
Challenge
How can we aid developing countries in low cost health
education and promotion efforts?
What We Did
 Evaluated the use of SMS to improve adolescent
sexual and reproductive health in Indonesia.
 Supporting CDC’s efforts to increase the visibility
and share the story of CDC Malawi through a
website upgrade, social media strategy and
implementation, evaluation, and a branded suite of
routine communications.
 Designing locally relevant global programs to
improve the health of people living with HIV and to
prevent the spread
of HIV.
Applied Strengths
Health Information Technology | Cultural Sensitivity | Health Education
Malawi

23. Future Priority Areas
We’re continuing to expand our capabilities in:
Information
Therapy
Financial Literacy
& Education
Social Justice
International
Communication
Projects
Genomic
Communication
Health Literacy &
Education
Energy &
Environmental
Communication
Promoting
Informed Clinical
Trials Participation

24. Contact Us
Lauren McCormack
Director, Center for Communication Science
919.541.6627 lmac@rti.org Skype: Lmac_881 Twitter: @Lmac7
Dr. Lauren McCormack’s research bridges the fields of communication
science and health policy. Her work focuses on promoting informed
decision making, public engagement, and behavior change to create
social impact. An overarching goal of Dr. McCormack’s research is to
improve the public’s understanding and use of scientific evidence in
decision making. She is an internationally recognized expert in health
literacy, having developed a skills-based measure of an individual’s health
literacy. Additionally, she has served as guest editor of the Journal of
Health Communication’s special issue on health literacy for the past 6
years.
Dr. McCormack’s 20-plus year career spans the communication continuum
from formative research to message and intervention development to
comprehensive evaluations. She has designed evidence-based messages
and materials, quantitatively analyzed small- and large-scale survey data
sets, and employed a variety of qualitative research techniques as part of
numerous multiyear health promotion and health care projects for various
clients, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Patient
Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She serves as Chair of
PCORI’s Advisory Panel on Communication and Dissemination Research.

25. Appendix: Program Directors
Jennifer Uhrig, Social & Behavior Change Research
Jennifer Uhrig, PhD, has nearly two decades of professional
experience in health communication and health services research.
Her expertise spans the health communication process from initial
exploratory research to product development and pretesting to
designing and conducting comprehensive process and outcome
evaluations of public health communication and social marketing
campaigns. She is skilled at both quantitative and qualitative research
methods, including the design, conduct, and analysis of experiments,
surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Dr. Uhrig has led
numerous multiyear, federally funded research projects for clients
including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She is also
experienced at managing large, multidisciplinary research teams.
Over the past decade, Dr. Uhrig has led more than a dozen large,
federally funded health communication projects focused on HIV
prevention, testing, treatment adherence, and retention in care. Dr.
Uhrig is currently leading a 5-year contract valued at over $6 million
for CDC to provide research and evaluation of all of CDC’s HIV/AIDS
prevention communication science programs for general education,
testing, prevention, and care services. She has published findings
from her research in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at
multiple national research conferences.

26. Appendix: Program Directors
Brian G. Southwell, Science in the Public Sphere
Brian Southwell, PhD, is Director of the Science in the Public Sphere
Program in the Center for Communication Science at RTI
International. In addition, Dr. Southwell is an Adjunct Professor with
Duke University’s Energy Initiative, a university-wide effort to promote
innovation in energy consumption and delivery. He also is a Research
Professor (of Mass Communication) and Adjunct Associate Professor
(of Health Behavior) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Before moving to North Carolina, Dr. Southwell served for almost a
decade at the University of Minnesota, most recently as Associate
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication with an adjunct appointment in
the School of Public Health. Additionally, he has worked for a variety
of nonprofit and government organizations, including the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ogilvy Public Relations.
He has conducted research on topics such as campaign
measurement and evaluation, with emphasis on exposure
measurement, the intersection of interpersonal communication, social
networks, and mass communication, and the role of aging and
memory. At RTI, he has helped to develop a national survey of
consumer energy perceptions, led projects for the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and advised numerous national evaluation
efforts. His work has been funded by the NSF, the National Institutes
of Health, and other sources.

27. Appendix: Program Directors
Megan A. Lewis, Patient & Family Engagement
Research
Megan A. Lewis, PhD, is a senior research scientist with more than
20 years of experience in both quantitative and qualitative research,
specializing in social science and health behavior research, program
evaluation, including formative, outcome, and impact evaluation. She
has unique expertise in health-related interpersonal communication
focusing on health promotion and chronic illness management and
the use of health and social science behavior theory in guiding
research and intervention development. She is experienced in
multiple quantitative research methods, including short-term and
longitudinal observational studies, experiments, and experience
sampling methods as well as qualitative methods such as semi-
structured interviewing techniques, focus group moderation, and
analysis of qualitative data with qualitative comparative analysis. Her
research is distinguished by the use of dyadic and interpersonal
theories and analytic methods to study how couple and family
functioning affect a wide array of health behaviors and disease
processes, and she has published extensively on these topics. Her
work has been funded by multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Institutes, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal Diseases (NIAMS), and the National Institute on
Aging, as well as private foundations and universities.

28. Appendix: Program Directors
Alexandra Scott Bornkessel, Social Innovation
& Digital Strategy
Alexandra Bornkessel, MA, is a change strategist, leading and
implementing social impact initiatives from the grassroots to the
federal level. An advocate for digital literacy, she works at RTI
International on the science behind social change while applying its
art toward impact solutions. In her work, she looks to champion
participatory research methods to build empathy and co-create
solutions with members of priority groups, often calling upon digital
media to inspire behavior change. Her award-winning portfolio
includes Healthy People 2020, healthfinder.gov and the Emmy-
nominated After the Party risk communication campaign. Select
clients include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a
number of agencies within the National Institutes of Health along with
nonprofit organizations such as the New York Organ Donor Network
and cofounding the Rampy MS Research Foundation.
Ms. Bornkessel speaks at conferences, with presentations at Yale,
Georgetown, and Emory universities and is an active presence on
Twitter @socialbttrfly, championing social marketing forward. She
previously designed and taught the course Social Media and Health
at American University. Expertise includes health communications;
social marketing; strategic planning; outreach and dissemination;
digital strategy, social media and Web content development.