Mugur Geana


Mugur Geana
  • Digital Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations Concentration Chair
  • Full Professor
  • Director, Center for Excellence in Health Communication to Underserved Populations

Contact Info

Dole Human Development Center, room 2001
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045

Biography

Dr. Mugur V. Geana is a Full Professor at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, specializing in research in health communication. With a background that includes an M.D. from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and a Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Dr. Geana expertly bridges the gap between medicine and strategic communication. Since coming to the University of Kansas in 2006, Dr. Geana led multiple research and capacity-building initiatives, such as founding the Center for Excellence in Health Communications to Underserved Populations, the Experimental Research Media Laboratory, and numerous externally funded research projects. His research focuses primarily on health communication strategies and the efficacy of media interventions in public health campaigns. His recent work explores AI's impact on consumer health communications, strategies to enhance vaccine uptake among marginalized populations, and the impact of social determinants of health on the uptake and processing of mediated health information. Dr. Geana is currently the Chair of the Digital Marketing Communications, Advertising, and Public Relations concentration.

Education

M.D., Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
Ph.D. in Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Missouri-Columbia

Research

Research interests:

  • Heath Communication
  • New Media
  • Health Disparities

Selected Publications

Diwanji, V., Geana, M.V., Pei, J., Ngyuen, N., Izhar, N., and Chaif, R. (2025). Consumers’ Emotional Responses to AI-Generated versus Human-Generated Content: The Role of Perceived Agency, Affect and Gaze in Health Marketing. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (in press)

Luisi, M., Geana, M.V., Pei, J. (2024). "Pandemic antecedents – Exploring predictivity and relationships between COVID-19 vaccine uptake and influenza, shingles, and HPV vaccination." Vaccine, 42(9), 2455-2462.

Geana, M. V., Liu, P., Pei, J., Anderson, S., & Ramaswamy, M. (2023). "A Friendly Conversation." Developing an eHealth Intervention to Increase COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination Literacy Among Women with Criminal and Legal System Involvement. Journal of Health Communication, 1-12. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2023.2293094. 

Rabb, N., Geana M.V., Sloman, S. (2023) “Communities of Knowledge in Trouble.” Perspectives in Psychological Science, 19(2), 432-443, doi.org/10.1177/1745691623118799

Light, N., Fernbach, P.M., Rabb, N., Geana M.V., Sloman, S. (2022) “Knowledge overconfidence is associated with anti-consensus views on controversial scientific issues.” Science Advance, Vol 8(29) 20 Jul 2022, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo0038

Collins, T., Geana, M.V., Overton, K., Benton, M., Lu, L., Khan, F., Rohleder, M., Ahluwalia, J., Resnivow, K., Zhu, Y. (2022) Use of a Smartphone Application versus Motivational Interviewing to Increase Walking Distance and Weight Loss in Overweight/Obese Adults with Peripheral Artery Disease: A Pilot Randomized Trial. JMIR Formative Research, Vol. 6(2). doi:10.2196/30295

Geana M.V., Rabb, N., Sloman, S. (2021) “Walking the Party Line: The Growing Role of Political Ideology in Shaping Health Behavior in the United States.” SSM-Population Health. 16, December 2021, 100950 doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100950

Geana M.V., Anderson, S., Ramaswamy, M. (2021) “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Women Leaving Jail. A Qualitative Study.” Public Health Nursing journal, 38:892–896. doi:10.1111/phn.12922

Geana M.V., Anderson, S., Lipnicky, A., Wickliffe, J.L., Ramaswamy, M. (2021) “Managing Technology, Content, and User Experience: An mHealth Intervention to Improve Women’s Health Literacy after Incarceration.” Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved 32(2), 106-127. doi:10.1353/hpu.2021.0053.

Ellis, S., Geana, M.V., Griebling, T., McWilliams, C., Gills, J., Stratton, K., Mackay, C., Shifter, A., Zganjar, A., Thrasher, B. (2019). “Development, acceptability, appropriateness and appeal of a cancer clinical trials implementation intervention for rural- and minority-serving urology practices.” Trials, 20, 578. doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3658-z

Geana, M.V., Erba, J., Krebill, H., Doolittle, G., Madhusudhana, S., Qasem, A., Malomo, N., (2017) “Searching for cures: Inner-city and rural patients' awareness and perceptions of cancer clinical trials” Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 5 (March 2017), 72-79.

Awards & Honors

Recipient of the School’s Kathleen Dole-Airoldi Research Achievement Award, 2024

University of Kansas IRISE Fellow, 2024-2025

Award for Valuable Research Contribution to the 12th CHOICE Symposium, Fontainebleau, France, 2023

Whiley Top Cited Article 2022-2023 – Journal of Public Health Nursing

Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric - 2023

Top Faculty Paper Award, 2022 International Communication Association Conference

Big XII Faculty Fellowship, 2018-2019

Top Paper Award, 2017 AEJMC Conference

Technical Advisor of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission, 2012

Recipient of Baskett Mosse National Research Award, AEJMC, 2011

Member of Media Advisory Board, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, 2010

Recipient of the Katich Faculty Creativity Award, University of Kansas, 2010

Member of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition Strategic Planning Advisory Group, 2009

Bronze ADDY Award by the Kansas City Ad Club, 2008

Memberships

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)

International Communication Association

University of Kansas Cancer Center

Center for Excellence in Health Communication to Underserved Populations (CEHCUP)