Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Dr. Jernigan's work has focused on public health practice with a particular interest in alcohol policy. He has written about and worked extensively in the field of media advocacy, the strategic use of the mass media to influence public health policy. He has also served as an adviser to the World Health Organization and the World Bank on the role of alcohol in health and development.
Dr. Jernigan is the Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in that capacity pioneers in the monitoring of youth exposure to alcohol advertising, including the development of best practices in monitoring as well as standard measures for reporting levels of youth exposure and for comparing it to adult exposure in various media. This work is primarily in the United States although he has provided technical assistance to researchers doing similar work in the European Union. The Center has also conducted content analyses of alcohol advertising, with a particular focus on the advertising most likely to be seen by youth. The Center also develops translational materials and training curricula in the areas of alcohol taxation, alcohol outlet density, and dram shop liability. These include case studies, legal research, research-to-practice action guides, and training curricula.