Beth St. Jean

Beth St. Jean is an Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Carillon Community in Health Justice at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (College Park). She holds a PhD and MS in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information and a BA in Mathematics from Smith College. Her research focuses on improving health outcomes through understanding health-related information behaviors, health literacy, and self-efficacy. She co-authored Understanding Human Information Behavior (2021) and leads projects like HackHealth to enhance youth health literacy.

Education:

• PhD in Information, University of Michigan School of Information (2012)
• MS in Information (LIS), University of Michigan School of Information (2006)
• BA in Mathematics, Smith College (1988)

Research Interests: Health informatics, health justice, consumer health information behavior, health literacy, youth digital practices, and information literacy. Her work emphasizes addressing health disparities through information access and education.

Recent Research Trends: Her publications explore topics like long-haulers’ information needs (2024), pandemic-era health justice (2023), and social media’s role in predicting health disparities (2022). She also investigates patient-generated health data challenges (2022) and library roles in promoting health equity (2020).

Awards and Recognition:

• ASIS&T SIG-USE Innovation Award (2017)
• ACM SIGCHI Excellent Reviewer (2017)
• ALISE/LMC Paper Award (2015)
• Beta Phi Mu/LRRT Research Award (2014)

Teaching and Grants: Teaches courses on information behavior, research methods, and consumer health informatics. Co-PI on grants like HackHealth 2.0 (NIH, $123K) and youth health literacy initiatives ($68.5K). Also serves as Assistant Director of the Information Policy & Access Center and Senior Fellow at CASCI.

Labs and Initiatives: Leads the Carillon Community in Health Justice and collaborates on projects like the HackHealth after-school program to engage disadvantaged youth in health entrepreneurship.