Katherine Margolis is an Instructor at the University of Pittsburgh and a Supervisory Social Scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In her role at the FDA, Dr. Margolis leads and oversees research activities, conducts reviews of tobacco product applications, and contributes to the development of tobacco regulatory policy. She holds a PhD and a Master of Arts in Communication from Michigan State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University.
Courses Taught at Pitt
- COMMRC 0530 - Interpersonal Communication
- COMMRC 1102 - Organizational Communication
Representative Publications
1. Kim, J. C., Dahlen, H., Dupervil, D., Ihongbe, T. O., Moffett, K. W., Hoffman, B., Denison, B., Kranzler, E. C., Yu, K., Margolis, K. A., & Hoffman, L. (2025). Evaluating the Impact of the "We Can Do This" Campaign's Heavy-Up Advertising on Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake. Health communication, 40(11), 2300–2309. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2449713
2. Kranzler, E.C., Luchman, J.N., Margolis, K.A., Ihongbe, T.O., Kim, J.C., Denison, B., et al. (2024). Association between vaccination beliefs and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in a longitudinal panel survey of adults in the United States, 2021–2022 Vaccine: X
3. Kim, J. C., Kranzler, E. C., Yu, K., Denison, B., Dahlen, H. M., Luchman, J. N., Ihongbe, T. O., Marshall, M. C., Hoffman, B., Moffett, K., Dupervil, D., Margolis, K. A., & Hoffman, L. (2024). The Association Between the We Can Do This Campaign and Vaccination Beliefs in the United States, January 2021-March 2022. Journal of health communication, 29(8), 502–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2024.2373159
4. Moffett, K. W., Seserman, K., Margolis, K. A., Kranzler, E. C., Marshall, M. C., Dahlen, H., Kim, J. C., Denison, B., Hoffman, B., Dupervil, D., Yu, K., & Hoffman, L. (2024). Differences in social media use by COVID-19 vaccination status. Vaccine, 42(9), 2166–2170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.03.031
5. Venrick, S., Margolis, K.A., Bernat, J., Donaldson, E., Pepper, J., Nonnemaker, J., & Eggers (2023). Believability of Messaging Concerning a Hypothetical Product Standard to Lower a Constituent in Cigarettes or Smokeless Tobacco among U.S. Adults Who Use Tobacco. Preventive Medicine Reports.
6. Venrick, S., Margolis, K.A., Bernat, J., Pepper, J., Nonnemaker, J., & Eggers, M. (2023). Youth and Adult Understanding of Public Displays of Information about Harmful Constituents in Cigarette Smoke. Preventive Medicine Reports.
7. O’Brien, E. K., Roditis, M., Persoskie, A, & Margolis, K.A. (2023) Youth’s Perceptions of Nicotine Harm and Associations with Product Use Nicotine and Tobacco Research
8. Venrick, S.J.; Kelley, D., O’Brien, E.; Margolis, K., Navarro, M., Alexander, J. & O’Donnell, A. (2022). US Digital Tobacco Marketing and Youth: A Narrative Review. Preventive Medicine Reports.
9. Margolis, K.A., Thakur, S, Zarndt, A.B, & Kemp, C. (2020). Susceptibility to e-cigarette use from 2014 to 2018 among U.S. middle and high school students. Preventive Medicine.
10. Wiseman, K., Margolis, K.A., Bernat, J.K. & Grana, R. (2019). The association between beliefs about e- cigarettes and nicotine, and e-cigarette information seeking with e-cigarette trial among US adults. Preventive Medicine.
11. Margolis, K.A., Donaldson, E., Portnoy, D., Robinson, J. D., Jamal, A., & Neff, L. (2018). E-cigarette Openness, Curiosity, Harm Perceptions and Advertising Exposure among U.S. Middle and High School Students: Findings from the 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Preventive Medicine.
12. Pierce, J.P., Sargent, J.D, Portnoy, D.B., White, M., Noble, M., Kealey, S., Borek, N., Carusi, C., Green, V.R., Kaurman, A.R., Leas, E., Lewis, M.J., Margolis, K.A., et al. (2018). Association between receptivity to tobacco advertising and progression to tobacco use in youth and young adults in the PATH study. JAMA Pediatrics.
13. Bernat, J.K., Ferrer, R.A., Margolis, K.A., & Blake, K. (2017). US Adult Tobacco Users’ absolute harm perceptions of traditional and alternative tobacco products, information-seeking behaviors, and (mis)beliefs about chemicals in tobacco products. Addictive Behaviors.
14. Soneji, S., Pierce, J.P., Choi, K., Portnoy, D., Margolis, K.A., Stanton, C.A. et al. (2017). Engagement with Online Tobacco Marketing and Associations with Tobacco Product Use Among US Youth: Findings from Wave 1 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. Journal of Adolescent Health.
15. Margolis, K.A., Bernat, J.K., O’Brien, E.K., & Delahanty, J.C. (2016). Online Information about Harmful Tobacco Constituents: A Content Analysis. Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
16. Margolis, K.A., Nguyen, A.B., Slavit, W.I. & King, B.A. (2016). E-cigarette Curiosity among U.S. Middle and High School Students: Findings from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Preventive Medicine.
17. Margolis, K.A., Cleary, J. & Catalusci, L. (2014). Using Twitter to Elicit Patient Perspectives on their Experiences with Asthma. American Journal of Health Research.
18. Margolis, K. (2013). Languages in the Healthcare Setting as Diverse as the Patients, DTC Perspectives Magazine.
19. Park, H. S., Smith, S., Klein, K. A., & Martell, D. (2011). College students’ estimations and accuracy of other students’ drinking and believability of advertisements featured in a social norms campaign. Journal of Health Communication.
20. Smith, S.W., LaPlante, C., Novales Wibert, W., Mayer, A., Atkin, C.K., Klein, K.A. et al. (2011). Student- generated protective behaviors to avert severe harm due to high-risk alcohol consumption. Journal of College Student Development.
21. Park, H.S., Smith, S. & Klein, K.A. (2011). The effects of drinking status and believability of ads featured in a social norms campaign on college students' estimation and accuracy of other students' celebratory drinking. Journal of Drug Education.
22. Margolis, K.A., Kingsley Westerman, C.Y., & Kowalski-Trakofler, K. (2011). Underground mine refuge chamber expectations training: Program development and evaluation. Safety Science.
23. Kingsley Westerman, C.Y., Margolis, K.A., & Kowalski-Trakofler, K. (2011). Inoculating for underground coal emergencies. Professional Safety.
24. Margolis, K.A. (2010). Underground coal mining injury: A look at how age and experience relate to days lost from work following an injury. Safety Science.
25. Park, H.S., Klein, K.A., Smith, S., Martell, D. (2009). Separating subjective norms, university descriptive and injunctive norms, and U.S. descriptive and injunctive norms for drinking behavior intentions. Health Communication.
26. Lapinski, M.K., Randall, L., Peterson, M., Peterson, A. & Klein, K. (2009). Prevention options for positives: Testing the effects of a health communication intervention for HIV positive men who have sex with men. Health Communication.
27. Rimal, R.N., Lapinski, M.K., Klein, K.A. & Shulman, H.C. (2009) Risk perceptions of people living with HIV/AIDS: How similarity affects optimistic bias. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 251-257.
28. Mallett, L.G., Orr, T.J. & Margolis, K.A. (2009). Enhanced fire escape training for mine workers using virtual reality simulation. Mining Engineering.
29. Atkin, C.K., Smith, S.W., Klein, K.A., Glazer, E. & Martell, D. (2008). In their own words: Student characterizations of protective behaviors to prevent alcohol harm. Report on Social Norms.
30. Westerman, D., Van Der Heide, B., Klein, K., & Walther, J.B. (2008). How do people really seek information about others? Information seeking across Internet and traditional communication sources. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication.