Ph.D. alumna awarded UNC Impact Award for increasing N.C. teens’ access to health knowledge

Jessica Willoughby, a 2013 doctoral graduate of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, was recognized with a 2014 Impact Award from UNC’s Graduate Education Advancement Board.

Impact Awards are given to graduate students whose research is of exceptional benefit to North Carolina.

Willoughby received the award for her three-month-long social marketing campaign to increase awareness of BrdsNBz — a service that allows teens to text sexual health questions to a trained health educator, who then provides a personalized response. The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina launched the service in 2009 to help meet North Carolina leaders’ goal of reducing the state’s teen pregnancy rate by 30 percent by 2020.

"Ultimately, what teens learn from the timely feedback they get on their cell phones may help reduce the number of STIs and teen pregnancies in the state," said professor emeritus Jane Brown, Willoughby’s adviser.

Willoughby conducted the campaign for BrdsNBz in six public middle and high schools in Stokes and Cabarrus counties. Her project had an immediate impact by informing more than 2,000 young North Carolinians about an important health resource and by providing the statewide agency that manages BrdsNBz with strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the service.

The Impact Awards are possible by the Graduate Education Advancement Board (GEAB), whose members believe in the importance of graduate education at Carolina.