Health Communication Division

Health Communication is one of the fastest growing areas of scholarship within NCA, and was added as a focus-area to Healthy People 2010. Several recent Institute-Of-Medicine reports highlight the centrality of health communication. The National Cancer Institute recently established a Health Communication and Informatics Research branch, and the CDC has an Office of Communication. Major professional organizations outside Communication (e.g., American Public Health Association) offer forums for sharing health-communication scholarship. The APHA, the ICA, and the NCA jointly run the Coalition for Health Communication.

Given this recognition, the Health Communication Division of NCA plays a significant role in representing the discipline as it works to advance theory, research, teaching, and practical applications of human and mediated communication to health care and health promotion.

The Division sponsors an Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award and Top Dissertation/Thesis Awards (with ICA’s Health Communication Division), and a Distinguished Book and Article/Chapter Award to recognize exceptional health communication scholarship. The Division also holds a “doctoral and early career” pre-conference every two years to enhance the academic work, research, and network of doctoral students and recent Ph.D.s working to establish their career and research agenda.