Angeline (LeeAnn) Sangalang
sangalan [at] usc [dot] edu
Angeline (Lee Ann) Sangalang examines cognitive and affective processes underlying media effects. She is interested in the role that emotion plays when interpreting health information from media messages and how these processes influence health decision-making, particularly decisions related to prevention. Lee Ann is currently exploring the utility of positive emotions to enhance, as well the role of negative emotions in attenuating, the effects of entertainment-education messages in popular television programming and interactive games for public health. Lee Ann has designed or assisted with projects that have examined the effects on health issues such as cancer, sexual health, nutrition, and smoking behavior across news, entertainment, and interactive media. Lee Ann also has extensive experience in message design, crafting print messages for health issues such as secondhand smoke, exercise, STDs, and HIV. She has aided in the development of community-level campaigns, most recently to improve hand-washing behaviors in poor performing restaurants and understanding Alzheimer’s disease. Her teaching interests are also related to media and health, and she has assisted courses in media history and effects and the influence of mass media on the human body. Lee Ann graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. in communication and psychology, where she received high distinction in communication and was recipient of Otto A.L. Dieter Award for exceptional service to the Department of Communication throughout the course of her undergraduate career.