Sarah Bauerle Bass, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor
Director, Undergraduate Program
Co-Director, Risk Communication Laboratory
1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue
Ritter Annex, 9th floor (004-09)
Philadelphia, PA 19122

(215) 204-5110 Office
(215) 204-1854 Fax

Sbass@temple.edu

Biography

Dr. Sarah Bauerle Bass is an Associate Professor of Public Health and undergraduate program director in the Department of Public Health. She has almost twenty years of experience and training in communication message development, public health research and teaching in both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In the undergraduate program, Bass currently teaches the two-semester writing intensive program planning and evaluation course which is the capstone experience for public health majors (PH3496 and PH3596). She also teaches AIDS and Society (PH2203), her content expertise. In the graduate program, Bass teaches PH5006, Risk Communication and Public Health. Under her leadership as the director, the undergraduate program's curriculum now serves as a national model for colleges and universities seeking to implement public health courses on the undergraduate level. Bass is also faculty advisor of Eta Sigma Gamma, the undergraduate public health student society. Dr. Bass has won the prestigious Lindback Award for excellence in teaching (2007), as well as the College of Health Professions' Excellence in Teaching Award (2006) and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts, Department of Women's Studies (1998).

As Co-Director of Temple's Risk Communication Laboratory, Bass' research focuses on health and risk communication and how public health messages are crafted for all audiences. She also has researched the use of new technologies such as the Internet and their impact on patient/public self-efficacy and behavior intention. She is currently the Principal Investigator for an NIBIB study on developing low-literacy materials to educate the public on radiation-terror events, as well as a state funded grant on using literacy assessment tools and bio-physiologic measures in low-literacy populations. She has widely published in the area of health communication and recently authored a guide on Health Literacy. In addition, Dr. Bass has developed and implemented a number of community based health education programs, including interventions in the areas of HIV/AIDS, Drug Abuse Prevention and Child Care Education. Before receiving her Ph.D., Bass developed and implemented state-wide HIV/AIDS media campaigns and has been involved with media-developed public health messages for over 20 years.

Dr. Bass is the author of many articles and has presented over 50 abstracts in juried meetings. She has been a reviewer for several scientific journals and has served as a primary reviewer on a patient decision-making guide for entering clinical trials developed by ECRI, the Journal of Health Communication, the Journal of Preventive Medicine and the American Journal of Public Health. Her recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Health Psychology, the Journal of Health Communication, Epidemiology and Infection, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, and the Journal of the National Medical Association. Dr. Bass is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Public Health Association, the Society for Public Health Education, the Pennsylvania Public Health Association and the American Medical Informatics Association. She also sits on the Health Communication Committee of Healthy People 2010 for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Undergraduate Public Health Education committee for the Association of Schools for Public Health.

Bass received her Ph.D. from Temple University's Department of Public Health in Health Studies, as well as her MPH in Community Health Education and a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film from Northwestern University in the School of Communications.

Course Involvement

Syllabi for all courses taught at Temple

Graduate Level Courses:

Risk Communication
Maternal and Child Health
Program Planning & Evaluation

Undergraduate Level Courses:

Epidemiology
Human Sexuality
Health Science I, II and III
International Health
Environmental Health
Consumer Health
Program Planning & Evaluation
Contemporary Health Issues
AIDS and Society
Sexuality and Reproduction
Intro to Health Professions

Publications/Presentations

2010 "Resident Physicians' Perceptions of Barriers and Facilitators to Colorectal Cancer Screening for African Americans." Ward SH, Parameswara L, Bass SB, Paranjape A, Gordon TF and Ruzek SB. Jourmal of the National Medical Association, 102(4), 303-311.

2010 "Perceptions of Coloretal Cancer Screening in Urban African American Clinic Patients: Differences by Gender and Screening Status." Bass SB, Gordon TF, Ruzek SB, Wolak C, Ward S, Paranjape A, Lin K, Meyer B and Ruggieri DG. Journal of Cancer Education; Mar;26(1):121-8.

2010 "If You Ask Them, Wll They Come? Predictors of Quarantine Compliance during a Hypothetical Avian Influenza Pandemic: Results from a Statewide Survey." Bass SB, Ruzek SB, Ward L, Gordon TF, Hanlon AL, Hausman AJ and Hagen M. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 4(2), 135-144.

2008 "Your Resource Guide to Health Literacy." Bass SB, Gallo R, Crookes DM, Berger T and Fleisher L. Pennsylvania Department of Health and Fox Chase Cancer Center, Health Communications and Public Health Program.

2008 "Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening among African Americans, Linking Risk Perception to Interventions Targeting Patients, Communities and Clinicians." Ward SH, Lin K., Meyer B, Bass SB, Parameswaran L, Gordon TF and Ruzek SB. Journal of the National Medical Association. 100(6), 748-758.

2008 "Mapping Perceptions Related to Acceptance of Smallpox Vaccination by Hospital Emergency Room Personnel." Bass SB, Gordon TF, Ruzek SB and Hausman AJ. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, 6(20), 179-189.

2008 "Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? The Case for Undergraduate Public Health Education. A Review of Three Programs." Bass SB, Guttmacher S and Nezami, E. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 14(1), 6-14.

Research

Developing Risk Communication Materials for Radiological Terror Events for Low-literacy Populations

P.I.:
SB Bass – Co-I's: TF Gordon, R Patterson, and C Parvant

Source:
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering (R03EB009561-01A1)

Goal(s):
This research grant is researching radiological terror event risk communication materials in low-literacy populations and will pilot test a modified tool based on perceptual mapping and psycho-physiological measures.

Pilot Studies to Health Develop Risk Communication Materials for Low Literacy Populations

P.I.:
SB Bass

Source:
PA Tobacco Settlement Grant, Office of the Vice-President for Research, Temple University

Goal(s):
This project pilots the use of perceptual mapping and bio-physiological measures as a means to gather data to develop decision aids for low-literacy populations.

Using Perceptual Mapping to Develop Low Literacy CRC Screening Decision Aids

P.I.:
TF Gordon – Co-I's: SB Ruze and SB Bass

Source:
The National Cancer Institute (5R21CA120122-02).

Goal(s):
The RCL developed and tested materials to encourage low-literacy African Americans to take advantage of colorectal cancer screening. Screening rates among this population have been much lower than for other sub-populations and colorectal cancer incidence rates have been higher.

Focus Group Moderator's Guide for 'Ever' Screened Participants
Focus Group Moderator's Guide for 'Never' Screened Participants

Clinical Interests

Concentrations:

Risk Communication
HIV/AIDs
Sexuality
Cancer Education
Community Based Program Planning and Evaluation

Additional Info

Risk Communication Laboratory (RCL)