Health Communication (MA & PhD)

Our focus on health communication at the University of Memphis provides graduate students an interdisciplinary experience in the theoretical and research practices in the study of health communication. Blending social scientific, rhetorical, and critical cultural perspectives, our faculty research includes patient-provider communication, medical education, palliative care, cancer communication, health information technology, science communication, and public health communication. Our existing partnerships with the University Of Memphis School Of Public Health, as well research projects with the Health Sciences programs at the University of Tennessee, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare System, and West Clinic, provides students the ability to focus research in multiple academic and real world settings. The U of M Health Communication program offers a unique experience that prepares students for both academic and non-academic careers in health and health-related government agencies and industries.

Faculty

Amanda Young, PhD
Dr. Young studies the rhetorical construction of agency in healthcare discourse in contexts such as emergency room care, end-of-life care among elderly veterans, adolescents’ decision making in reproductive health, and veterinary care. Most recently her work has centered on conversations about the initiation of palliative care in intensive care units. Her recent publications include:

Young AJ, Kim L, Li S, Baker J, Schmidt M, Camp JW, & Barfield RC. (2010). Agency and communication challenges in discussion of informed consent in pediatric cancer research. Qualitative Health Research 20; 628-643

Young AJ. (2008). Disciplinary rhetorics, rhetorical agency, and the construction of voice. In: Johnstone B, Eisenhart C, editors. Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analytic Approaches to Rhetorical Text and Talk. Philadelphia (PA): John Benjamins Press; 2008.

Marina Levina, PhD, Assistant Professor

Dr. Levina conducts research in the fields of critical cultural studies of science, technology and medicine, visual culture, and media studies. She published work on health information technology, personal genomics, biocitizenship, networks and globalization, and visual culture’s engagement with scientific and medical research. Her representative publications:

Post-Global Network and Everyday Life (first editor, co-edited with Grant Kien), Digital Formations series, Ed. Steve Jones. Peter Lang Publications, 2010.

“Googling Your Genes: Personal Genomics and the Discourse of Citizen Bioscience in the Network Age” in Journal of Science Communication, 9(1), 2010

Craig Stewart, PhD, Assistant Professor
Most of Dr. Stewart’s research investigates socioscientific controversies. Among other projects, he is currently investigating college students’ opinion discourse regarding HPV vaccine mandates. His recent publications include:

Stewart, C. O. (in press). The influence of news frames and science background on attributions about embryonic and adult stem cell research: Frames as heuristic/biasing cues. Science Communication.

Stewart, C. O. (2009). Socioscientific controversies: A theoretical and methodological framework. Communication Theory, 19, 124-145.