Say hello to Laura!
We are excited to announce that Laura E. Brown has accepted a new Postdoctoral Scholar position with the CHC, effective July 1.
Laura studies the ways in which individuals manage identity and personal information in conversations with healthcare providers and others about health, illness, and wellness. With nearly a decade of university teaching experience, Laura is enthusiastic about applying her expertise to this CHC initiative. Laura also brings her experiences of working with interdisciplinary teams, including social workers, nurses, and community organizations, which she has done in her role as an academic and in her role as a social justice advocate. Before receiving her Ph.D. from the Department of Communication Studies at UT, Laura earned her M.A. in Communication from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, she received her B.A. in Organizational Communication from Elmhurst College.
Research overwhelmingly supports the value of effective communication skills for healthcare providers: Patients and professionals alike are healthier and more satisfied when they communicate better. The UT Center for Health Communication has launched an innovative interdisciplinary program focused on communication skills training for UT health profession students. The program will leverage the communication expertise of the Moody College to collaborate with and meet instructional needs of the College of Pharmacy and the Dell Medical School. This initiative is designed to be a uniquely comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and evidence-based approach to communication education in health profession programs. Formal courses and workshops will be tailored to help future healthcare providers to become more skillful and confident when communicating with patients and colleagues. Furthermore, the initiative will be a first-of-its kind scholarly endeavor, yielding scientific data on the most successful approaches to teaching communication strategies to these learners so that other institutions, practitioners, and patients can benefit from the work being done at UT.
