Dorothee Heinemeier

Dorothee Heinemeier is a lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication Studies within the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Erfurt. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in health communication with a focus on vaccine hesitancy and evidence-based vaccination campaigns. Her academic background includes a M.Sc. from the University of Erfurt (2012-2015) and a B.Sc. in Business Psychology and Education Sciences from Leuphana University Lueneburg (2008-2012).

• Current employment: Researcher (65%) at University Hospital Jena (2025-present) for the project 'Equal opportunities for cancer patients in Thuringia' (funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research)
• Past roles: Researcher at University of Erfurt for projects 'Vaccination60+' (2016-2019) and 'Revision of the MMR-decision aid' (2015-2016)

Her research spans health decision-making, vaccination campaigns, and psychological antecedents of vaccine behavior. Recent publications address RSV vaccination in seniors, post-pandemic counseling challenges, and 5C psychological scale development for vaccination research. She participates in multi-method intervention studies and longitudinal trials to reduce hesitancy.

Her 15 most recent articles focus on public health communication (7), vaccination behavior (10), health psychology (6), and senior immunization (5). Key subfields include vaccine hesitancy measurement, cross-cultural translation studies, behavioral change models, and respiratory virus prevention. She has contributed to clinical trials and policy frameworks for vaccination campaigns.

Her work involves grants from the German Ministry of Education and Research for projects like 'Vaccination60+' and 'Equal opportunities for cancer patients', as well as funding from the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung. She collaborates with researchers like Christine Betsch on psychological antecedents of vaccination and health communication strategies.