Center for Health Communication

By Mike Mackert

So much of the talk on any college campus, I think, is about how everyone – faculty, staff, and students – could do a better job collaborating across departments, fields, etc. Health communication is a field that in many ways requires interdisciplinary partnerships, but that fact has been very top of mind lately.

By Suzanne Burdick

Health literacy refers to the ability of people to “obtain, process, and act appropriately on health information. Many patients lack strong health literacy skills, and it can be more of a challenge to effectively “hand off” critical information to them.

By Mike Mackert

Whenever I teach a new course, I feel like it takes three times to get it working the way I really want it to. It’s almost impossible to get everything right the first time through, from how assignments are structured to running in-class assignments. But the Center for Health Communication (CHC) pilot grant program (CHER: Communication for Health, Empathy, and Resilience) worked almost exactly as designed in its inaugural cycle for 2017-18.

By Mike Mackert

As long as the Center for Health Communication (CHC) has existed, we’ve felt like every year has been a process of calculated but substantial experimentation. Last year we tripled our staff team, launched a variety of new projects, and it was a hectic and busy – but fun! – year.

By Jessica Hughes Wagner

We were inspired as new collaborations formed and interdisciplinary research projects took shape during our first year of the CHER grant program. These student-written articles document our impressive batch of inaugural grantees.

By Stephanie Zeller

Clinical trials sound uncertain and maybe even dangerous, but in reality, they could be instrumental in saving the lives of many who would not ordinarily be able to afford such treatments. But how do we most effectively describe the relative risks and benefits of clinical trials to understandably uncertain patients?