Dr. Romer is the Research Director at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an Affiliate Research Scientist at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Dan Romer, PhD is an Affiliate Research Scientist at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Research Director at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He also serves as Director of the Adolescent Communication Institute (ACI) at Penn.
Dr. Romer has conducted extensive research on how social interaction and media influence decision-making and behavior, as well as several studies on adolescent health and development. His work has appeared in several high-impact peer reviewed publications and include research on the effects of television news on race relations; the role of education on the political engagement of teens; the factors that underlie early drug use in teens; and the effects of graphic warning labels on cigarettes.
He has served on numerous grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is on the editorial board of the following journals: Plus One, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, and Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Dr. Romer’s edited volume, Reducing Adolescent Risk: Toward an Integrated Strategy (Sage Press, 2003), presents the findings of a conference held at the Annenberg Public Policy Center in 2002 to define a more comprehensive national strategy for healthy adolescent development. Along with Kathleen Jamieson, he coordinated the publication of the award-winning volume Treating and Preventing Adolescent Mental Health Disorders (Oxford, 2005) which was released in its second edition in 2017. He has also directed the National Annenberg Survey of Youth, a biannual study of 900 youth ages 14 to 22 sponsored by ACI.
BA, Dartmouth College (Psychology)
PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago (Social Psychology)
Affiliate Research Scientist, Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelpia
Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania
Director, Adolescent Communication Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
Member, American Public Health Association
Member, Society for Prevention Research
Member, Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research
Adebimpe A, Bassett DS, Jamieson PE, Romer D. Intersubject Synchronization of Late Adolescent Brain Responses to Violent Movies: A Virtue-Ethics Approach. Front Behav Neurosci. 2019;13:260.
O'Neill D, Walshe EA, Romer D, Winston FK. Transportation Equity, Health, and Aging: A Novel Approach to Healthy Longevity with Benefits Across the Life Span. Washington, DC: National Academy of Medicine; 2019.
Walshe EA, Winston FK, Romer D, Betancourt LM, Arena K, Khurana A. Working Memory Development and Motor Vehicle Crashes in Young Drivers. JAMA Network Open. 2019.
Arendt F, Scherr S, Pasek J, Jamieson PE, Romer D. Investigating Harmful and Helpful Effects of Watching Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why: Results of a Two-Wave U.S. Panel Survey. Soc Sci Med. 2019;232:489-498.
Walshe EA, Romer D, Winston FK, Betancourt LM, Arena K. Cell Phone Use While Driving: A Pattern of Risk in Young Novice Drivers. Academic Journal of Pediatrics & Neonatology. 2018;6(5).