Diane B. Francis is an associate professor in Communication Studies at Northeastern University with a joint appointment in Public Health. She is a communication and health equity scholar—she conducts applied research at the intersections of communication, race, and health. She works in the area of Social Media and Mental Health. Her academic research is centered in how communication strategies—both traditional and digital—can best be harnessed to mitigate health disparities, primarily among Black populations.
Her work is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and has been published in leading journals across communication, public health, and medicine including, Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Social Science & Medicine, and Preventive Medicine.