Jennifer M Kowalsky

As a health psychologist, Dr. Kowalsky studies health behavior and health promotion, with an emphasis on blood donation and vaccination. Used to save and improve lives, the demand for blood products is constant. Ensuring sufficient availability of safe blood is a global health concern because the blood supply typically relies on voluntary donors. As such, she studies strategies to improve blood donor recruitment and retention. In addition to blood donation, she studies vaccination behavior. Although vaccines provide some protection against a variety of illnesses, not everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated. This line of research seeks to understand vaccine hesitancy, evaluate message framing strategies, identify novel predictors of vaccination behavior, and improve the vaccination experience.

Areas of Expertise

Health Psychology

Psychophysiology

Scale Development

Education

PhD Experimental Psychology, specializing in Health, Ohio University

MS Clinical Psychology, Ohio University

MPH Ohio University, BA Psychology, University of Calgary

BSc Primatology, University of Calgary