Documenting Year 1 of the CHER Grant Program

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.

Creation of the CHER Grant Program allowed us to pursue a key part of our Center’s mission to lead the creation of evidence-based health communication scholarship. This brand-new research initiative was designed to promote collaboration between Moody College of Communication and Dell Medical School faculty who sought to conduct pilot projects investigating communication’s key role in promoting wellness, creating a culture of empathy among healthcare providers, and enabling people to resist and recover from illness or injury.

As with any new endeavor, we knew to expect doses of success (a wildly successful kick-off networking event last fall and an impressive 11 applicant teams) and set-backs (navigating approvals in a taxed IRB system and ironing out timelines).  We are proud at how our team – under the leadership of CHC Associate Director Dr. Matt McGlone – navigated that balance in our first swing at this program.

We were inspired as new collaborations formed and interdisciplinary research projects took shape. To document the work of our impressive batch of inaugural grantees, we enlisted an undergraduate student from the Moody College of Communication.  Read on to learn more about Year 1 of the program, and check back in fall 2018 for Year 2 launch information.

The CHER Grant: Supporting Research that Explores How Communication Impacts Health, Empathy, and Resilience

CHER Grantee Profile #1:  Lead Poisoning Prevention in Texas Communities Through the CHER Program

CHER Grantee Profile #2:  Studying the Effects of Empathetic Healthcare Through the CHER Program

CHER Grantee Profile #3:  CHER Awardee Tests the Role of Communication in Minority Women’s Enrollment in Clinical Trials