Irina A. Iles, PhD, MPH is a Program Director in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) of the Behavioral Research Program (BRP). Her scientific interests broadly include exploring how our scientific understanding of human decision making in health contexts can be fostered and integrated with health communication theories and practices to design effective health messages that promote health. She is also interested in understanding how we can communicate scientific uncertainty in an accessible manner to foster trust in health information.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Iles served as a social scientist in the Office of Communications, Research and Risk Communication, which is a part of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While there, she engaged in qualitative and quantitative research studies on a variety of topics, including opioids, benzodiazepines and biosimilars, and led a multi-phase project investigating optimal communication strategies to inform the public about FDA-regulated products during public health emergencies. She completed her post-doctoral training as an NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in BRP.
Dr. Iles received her PhD from the University of Maryland at College Park's Department of Communication, with a concentration in health and risk communication, and her MPH from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics.
Secondary Branch/Office Appointment: Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Sciences Branch (BBPSB)
Scientific Interests
- Message effects
- Risk perception
- Health behavior change
- Survey and experimental designs
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Iles IA, Gillman AS, O'Connor LE, Ferrer RA, Klein WMP. Understanding responses to different types of conflicting information about cancer prevention. Soc Sci Med 2022 Oct; 311:115292.
- Iles IA, Gillman AS, Ferrer RA, Klein WMP. Self-affirmation inductions to reduce defensive processing of threatening health risk information. Psychol Health 2022 Oct; 37(10):1287-1308.
- Iles IA, Gillman AS, Klein WMP, Ferrer RA, Kaufman A. Associations between absolute and relative electronic cigarette harm perceptions and information-seeking behaviours among US adult current, former and never smokers. Drug Alcohol Rev 2022 Feb; 41(2):356-364.
- Iles IA, Pearson JL, Lindblom E, Moran MB. "Tobacco and Water": Testing the Health Halo Effect of Natural American Spirit Cigarette Ads and Its Relationship with Perceived Absolute Harm and Use Intentions. Health Commun 2021 Jun; 36(7):804-815.
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