SUNGKYOUNG LEE is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Lee’s research centers on developing and testing effective mediated messages around health and science communication, and she has extensive training in experimentally designed research along with academic background and research experience in studying media effects and information processing employing online and laboratory experiments. Currently, she is involved in two lines of research: 1) designing and testing health communication messaging that is well suited to the issue of clinical trial research recruitment in minority populations and those in rural communities; 2) developing effective message strategies to enhance the public’s understanding of scientific findings. In general, this line of research has informed the cognitive and emotional processing aspects of health communication messages along with persuasion outcomes. Lee earned her Ph.D. in communication and cognitive science from Indiana University-Bloomington and completed a post-doc in the Center for Excellence in Cancer Communication, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Recent Publications

• Subramanian, R., Lee, S., Santo, J., Watanabe-Galloway, S. (in press). Concrete or Abstract? The effects of picture concreteness and mental illness prevalence on destigmatizing mental illness. Accepted to Visual Communication Quarterly.
• Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, C., Hong, Y*., Lee, N., Lee, S., & Hinnant, H. (2022). Improving rural White men’s attitudes toward clinical trial messaging and participation: Effects of framing, exemplars, and trust. Health Education Research. 37(6), 476-494. DOI: 10.1093/her/cyac026 (*equal contributions among all authors)
• Kirkpatrick, C. Hu, S., Lee, N., Hong, Y*., Lee, S., & Hinnant, H. (2022). Overcoming black Americans’ psychological and cognitive barriers to clinical trial participation: Effects of news framing and exemplar. Health Communication. Online First Published. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2022.2105619 (*equal contributions among all authors)
• Kirkpatrick, C*., & Lee, S. (2022). Comparisons to picture-perfect motherhood: How Instagram’s idealized portrayals of motherhood affect new mothers’ well-being. 137. Computers in Human Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107417
• Fuzzell, L. N., Dodd, S., Hu, S*., Hinnant, A., Lee, S., Cameron, G., & Garbutt, J. M. (2022). An informed approach to the development of primary care pediatric firearm safety messages. BMC Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-03101-4
• Kirkpatrick, C*. & Lee, S. (2021). Effects of Instagram Body Image Portrayals on Attention, State Body Dissatisfaction, and Appearance Management Behavioral Intention. Health Communication, Online First Published. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2021.2010902
• Lee, S., Lee, N*., & Kirkpatrick, C*. (2021). Effects of Communication Source and Racial Representation in Clinical Trial Recruitment Flyers. Health Communication, Online First Published. DOI:10.1080/10410236.2021.1976361