Welcome!
Issues of health have become increasingly critical and complex, generating the need for individuals that can communicate effectively about health. The health communication program at Purdue seeks to fulfill this growing need for trained health communicators by exposing students to the theory, research, and practice of health communication.
We offer the opportunity to creatively interact with our nationally and internationally reputed teacher-scholars in the development, application and testing of innovative health solutions. Housed in one of the leading communication departments in the nation, the health communication program provides a unique blend of theory and application, focusing on health issues in the interpersonal, group, organizational, mass-mediated and rhetorical contexts.
The health communication program at Purdue seeks to fulfill this growing need for trained health communicators by exposing students to the theory, research, and practice of health communication.
Faculty interests span a range of health-related topics such as uncertainty and illness, social support, doctor-patient interaction, intimate violence, aging, health organizations, health communication campaigns, cross-cultural issues in health communication, and new media applications of health communication. This fast-growing program is constantly building bridges with private and public health organizations to create new avenues for its students through internships, consultancies, practical training opportunities, workshops, and grants.
Current News
Fall 2008 Jake Jensen is co-PI on an R25NIH "Cancer Center Training Grant" for $1.58 million. Contact Jake Jensen for more details.
In June 2007 Hyunyi Cho received a $146,669 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support research on the "Effects of gain vs. loss frame sun protection messages on rural Indiana adolescents."
Spring 2007 Risk Communication Lecture Series is available online via streaming video. Lectures by Max Lum (NIOSH), Sharon Dunwoody (Wisconsin) and Baruch Fischhoff (Carnegie Mellon). Click here to access videos.
Conference in China: 2008
The Communication Department Co-Sponsored the 3rd All-China Conference on Communication and Public Health at Tsinghua University in Beijing China in November 2008. Participantsl included representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Health, the healthcare industry and US federal agencies. View pictures of the 2006 conference here.
