Our Faculty

Our faculty members study the relationship between communication and health in interpersonal (e.g., doctor-patient communication, family communication, social networks and social support), organizational (e.g., health delivery systems and communication patterns), and mediated contexts (e.g., health campaigns, the influence of media on health attitudes and behaviors). They are all engaged in cutting-edge research that addresses major societal challenges (e.g., obesity, prevention and management of chronic illness, organ donation, HIV and AIDS). They have been funded by and have reviewed grants for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Cancer Institute; as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), William T. Grant Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), among others.

• John P. Caughlin (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: family communication, privacy and secrets, disclosure of HIV/AIDS. Professor Caughlin recently received the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Family Communication from the National Communication Association.
• Elaine Hsieh (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Research and teaching interests: bilingual health communication, interpreters' influeces on health care services, and social support and health literacy for non-English speaking and/or minority patients.
• Timothy P. Hogan (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is a Research Health Scientist at the Center for Management of Complext Chronic Care at the Hines VA Hosptial in Chicago and a Research Assistant Professor within the Program in Health Services Research at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago. Research and teaching interests: consumer health informatics, specifically individuals living with chronic conditions and how they access and use health information as well as the development of consumer health information services.
• Marian Huhman (Ph.D., University of Washington) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: interpersonal health communication, health campaigns, childhood physical activity and obesity. Professor Huhman previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she directed the $350 million Verb Campaign, to increase physical activity among children.
• Sally Jackson (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is a Professor of Communication and Associate Provost and Chief Information Officer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: argumentation, communication technology, research methods. Professor Jackson has taught graduate-level research methods courses online, and will develop our health communication research methods courses.
• Leanne Knobloch (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison) is an Associate Professor of Communciation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: relational uncertainty, interpersonal relationships and mental health. Professor Knobloch is engaged in cross-disciplinary research investigating the role of relational stability or uncertainty on outcomes such as depression.
• John Lammers (Ph.D., University of California at Davis) is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Director of the HCOM program. Research and teaching interests: institutional theory, communication in health care organizations, and leadership. Professor Lammers consults with health care organizations, is the current chair of the Organizational Communication division of the National Communication Association, and is a past chair of the Health Communication Division of the International Communication Association.
• Marshall Scott Poole (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison) is the David and Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar in Communication, Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Director of I-CHASS: The Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of Illinois. Research and teaching interests: group decision making, communication technology, health care teams. Professor Poole is funded by NSF and NIH for his research.
• Brian Quick (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: persuasion, health campaigns, organ donation messages. Professor Quick is funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services for a study of organ donation registration at Illinois' driver's license facilities.
• Michelle Shumate (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: social networks, nonprofit organization management, HIV/AIDS service organizations. Professor Shumate is funded by an NSF CAREER Award to understand collaboration between social service agencies.
• David Tewksbury (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is an Associate Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research and teaching interests: the role of news media in democratic systems, specifically how new audiences select news content in the contemporary media environment.
• Lauren Weiner (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is the Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor for the HCOM program. As a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she designs and teaches courses, advises current and prospective students, provides professional mentoring for students and oversees other administrative tasks within the program. Research and teaching interests: health and family communication, family communication and conflict, and family communication about genetic risks.