A conversation with trust researcher Hannah Kinzer

Hannah Kinzer’s road to public health started in an immunobiology lab, where she was doing basic research on how the body’s immune system responds to the bacteria that cause chlamydia. The goal was to create a vaccine for the common, sexually transmitted infection. But the more she worked in the lab, the more she realized that even the best vaccines only work when people take them — and not everyone is willing or able to do that.

That realization led her to explore the role of trust and communication in public health. Now she is poised to graduate from WashU School of Public Health with a PhD in public health sciences for a dissertation that asks the question: Who trusts which sources of health information, and what does their trust — or lack thereof — mean for their health behaviors and the public health?

Kinzer earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Lawrence University and her MPH from the University of Minnesota with a concentration in epidemiology. She is the past co-president and current director of science communication for the WashU graduate student organization Promoting Science Policy, Education and Research (ProSPER), which helps students explore issues in science policy, advocacy, communication, and outreach. 

In this video, she discusses her research and her experiences as a graduate student at WashU.

Video produced by Zachary Linhares/WashU Public Health