What does it take to encourage someone to change a habit that affects their health, and why isn’t information alone enough? This talk introduces students to the multi-and-interdisciplinary field of health communication: the science and art of using communication to advance the health and well-being of individuals, populations, (and planet!). Drawing on behavioral theories and real-world examples, we’ll explore why effective health communication requires more than just “getting the facts out,” and why strategy and creativity matter just as much as evidence. Along the way, we’ll highlight what a communication degree can offer to this increasingly vital field.
Kathryn Angelotti and Jeanne Send are PhD researchers at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), working in the BeCHANGE Research Group.
Kathryn holds a bachelor's degree in Communication and Media Studies (Franklin, 2011) and a master's degree in Communication, Management, and Health (USI, 2024). Before academics, she spent nearly a decade in San Francisco leading employee well-being and health communication programs, most recently as Well-being and Engagement Manager at Blue Shield of California. Her research focuses on the reduction of noncommunicable diseases and obesity by targeting the habits that form during adolescence. Based on a project in Bulgaria, she tests school-based health interventions in new contexts to inform a national health curriculum and its communication strategy there, sitting at the intersection of health communication, social marketing, and participatory action research.
Jeanne holds a bachelor's degree in Multilingual Communication (ZHAW, 2021) and a master's degree in Communication, Management and Health (USI, 2024). She began her professional path at Médecins Sans Frontières, where she worked in public engagement and media, helping bring people's stories and realities to light. Jeanne is currently a doctoral researcher whose work examines how recommendations issued by the European Academy of Pediatrics, aimed at reducing unnecessary treatment and medication, are received and used in practice. Alongside her PhD, she serves as Program Manager for the Master's in Health Communication at USI, a role she combines with research into what future health communicators need from their training, and what the field itself needs from the next generation of health communication specialists.
Contact Prof. Sugiyama for more information.