Brigitte Dietz

Biography

Brigitte’s research interests touch on the intersections of health communication, social media, and identity influences on behavior and choices. She is passionate about health disparities that result in populations on identity lines, especially political identity, gender, age, and geographic location. Prior to joining the Lamb School’s PhD program, Brigitte worked for a public health policy action tank managing state level advocacy campaigns in Illinois, specifically focused on passing a Multisector Action Plan for Aging which was signed as an executive order in August 2024.

Research and Teaching

Brigitte’s research areas are health communication and media technologies, with particular focus on social media and online deliberative environments. Current projects include work on disclosure of personal information, and the mutual influences of social media use and disclosure on each other. Brigitte previously acted as a TA for the sociology department at Illinois State University and has instructed COM114: Fundamentals of Speech Communication and COM314/315: Advanced Presentational Speaking. She now also serves as one of the assistant directors for COM114.