Robert Hornik

Robert C. Hornik, Ph.D.

Robert Hornik
  • Wilbur Schramm Professor Emeritus of Communication and Health Policy

Robert Hornik evaluated health-focused mass media interventions around the world and developed novel methods for choosing campaign message themes. He also studies the effects of ordinary media exposure on health behavior.

Robert Hornik is the Wilbur Schramm Professor Emeritus of Communication and Health Policy at the Annenberg School for Communication. He has been Principal Investigator for more than $40 million in NIH and USAID funding. He has led the evaluation of more than 20 public health communication campaigns throughout the world including those focused on child survival, HIV prevention, and tobacco use. He is the author of Development Communication (University Press Of America, 1993), edited Public Health Communication: Evidence for Behavior Change (Routledge, 2002), and co-edited Prediction and Change of Health Behavior (Psychology Press, 2007), as well as more than 150 refereed articles and papers. He has served on five US National Academy of Sciences Committees, is a Fellow of the International Communication Association, and received the Derryberry Award from the American Public Health Association and the Lindback award for distinguished teaching at Penn. He was co-director of the Penn Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS) from 2013-2018, and he led the Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research (CECCR) at Penn from 2003-2014. Recently completed research examined how Americans are affected by their exposure to information about cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. Current research projects include: 1) a multi-year study of the effects of new and old media content on tobacco beliefs and behavior among youth and young adults, 2) COVID-related survey research about the behavioral effects of misinformation, and 3) development and validation of methods to choose preferred message themes for communication campaigns.

Education

  • A.B., Dartmouth College, 1968
  • M.A., Stanford University, 1971
  • Ph.D., Stanford University, 1973

Selected Publications

Courses