Title: Associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Director of Research

Organization: Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia

Esther Thorson is Associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Director of Research at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Along with professors Steve Lacy and Murali Mantrala she has developed econometric models that link newspaper budget management with revenue/profit patterns. Dr. Thorson has published extensively on the news industry, advertising, news effects and health communication.

Her scholarly work has won a variety of research and writing awards and she has advised nearly 40 doctoral dissertations. She applies research, both hers and that of her colleagues, in newsrooms and advertising agencies across the US and abroad. She serves on an extensive list of journal editorial boards. Her latest books are (with David Schumann) Internet Advertising: Theory and Research (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007and (with Jerry Parker), Health Communication in the New Media Landscape (Springer, 2008).