Ralf Schmälzle, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at MSU. He is uniquely cross-trained in communication, health psychology and the social, cognitive and affective neuroscience. He received his doctorate from the University of Konstanz, Germany, where he also held a postdoctoral position. Before joining MSU, Dr. Schmälzle worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Pennsylvania in the Communication Neuroscience Lab.

Ralf Schmälzle's research strives to provide a mechanistic understanding of how messages affect the brain and how the brain - the biological organ of communication - enables us to respond to and interact with a uniquely social world. With this overarching goal in mind, his work promotes theoretical and methodological integration between communication science and neuroscience. he currently advances this goal within two areas: Neuroimaging of Health Prevention Messages and Media Neuroscience.