Autumn Shafer

Autumn Shafer’s work brings together communication, media psychology, and health behavior to tackle some of today's most pressing public health challenges. She studies how strategic messaging, social media, and public engagement can create healthy change. Recent research has focused on encouraging people to check their skin for melanoma, increasing interest in genetic cancer risk screening, and how communication can counter vaccine misinformation.

Shafer serves as Communication Director for the Healthy Oregon Project (HOP), one of the largest interventional studies in Oregon's history, now exceeding 54,000 consented participants. Before coming to academia, she worked as a political campaign manager, field director, and legislative aide, which gave her a deep, practical understanding of how communication shapes public life. She has also led study-abroad programs to London exploring public relations and advertising in a global context.

Shafer takes pride in making students feel welcome and excited about learning. She designs her courses around active, hands-on learning and works hard to create a classroom where every student feels both challenged and supported. Students know her as someone who genuinely cares about them. She actively mentors undergraduate and graduate students through honors projects, theses, and dissertations, and loves watching them grow into confident scholars and practitioners.