Health and Risk Communication

Issues of health have become increasingly critical and complex, generating the need for individuals who can communicate effectively about health. The health communication program at Purdue University seeks to fulfill this growing need for trained health communicators by exposing students to the theory, research, and practice of health communication.

Program graduates pursue academic as well as professional careers in health communication.

Why Purdue for Health and Risk Communication?

• As a student in the Lamb School, you’ll work with some of the most productive scholars in the field.
• While you’re on campus, you’ll participate in stimulating and novel health communication courses that cover a wide variety of areas.
• You’ll have the opportunity to take additional courses across Purdue University in some of the nation’s leading health-related programs, including Purdue’s CEPH Accredited MPH.
  We’ll work with you to design a personally-tailored plan of study that best suits your needs and interests.
• Our program intentionally integrates theory and practice. While you’re studying here, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in internships and practical opportunities in health care settings.
• You’ll collaborate with faculty members and fellow graduate students on research projects.

Program Faculty and Areas of Interest

• Charlie Catalano: Biopharmaceutical public relations, advertising and advocacy
• Bart Collins: Health communication technologies, health behavior change models
• Ilwoo Ju: Consumer decision making in health, branding strategies, marketing communication
• Marifran Mattson: Health campaigns, health advocacy, and service-learning
• Evan Perrault: Health campaign message design, healthcare marketing, program evaluation
• Felicia Roberts: Provider-patient communication, human-animal interaction
• Hwanseok Song: Risk Communication; trust and credibility; and social cognitive approaches to risk

Selected Graduate Course Offerings

Introduction to Health Communication, Health Campaigns, Health Advocacy Campaigns, Risk Communication, Interpersonal Communication in the Health Context, Provider-Patient Communication, Narrative Work of Health

Interdisciplinary Connections

In addition to courses offered within the Lamb School, students are encouraged to supplement their study of health communication with courses offered in the areas of Human Development and Family Studies, Consumer Science, Health and Kinesiology, Health Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Psychology, Sociology, and/or Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.