Jennifer Vardeman, Ph.D., conducts research in public relations in the public health and healthcare field. Specifically, she investigates how women make decisions about healthcare options, and how both interpersonal contact and mass media affect their decisions. Dr. Vardeman is the director of the Valenti School, an affiliate faculty member of UH’s Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, and currently serves as a visiting scientist with Houston Methodist Hospital’s Urogynecology Associates. She runs a research lab of communication and pre-med students from multiple universities as they determine how women from different backgrounds make healthcare decisions regarding pelvic floor health. For another health communication project, she currently is a member of the Engaging Communities of Hispanics/Latinos for Aging Research Network, a project supported by the National Institute on Aging. As a former public relations professional, Dr. Vardeman has worked, taught, and consulted in the public relations field for 22+ years, previously working for firms such as Weber-Shandwick (Houston, TX), Lois Paul & Partners, a Fleishman-Hilliard company (Austin, TX), and ICF International (Rockville, MD). Her clients over the years have varied greatly in size and industry from global giants like IBM Software, Motorola Semiconductors, and Compaq Computers, to local start-ups like Expeditrix and Tantau Software. In the public health sector, she conducted communication research and strategic planning for federal government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Radiological Studies Branch, as well as local community health organizations and hospitals, like Baylor Teen Health Clinics and Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute.

Research Areas
health communication, community health, information-seeking