Journal of Health Communication Publishes Inaugural Society for Health Communication Special Issue

 Issue highlights insights from health communication campaigns and seeks to increase access to critical health communication research, science, and practice

 Austin, TX and New York, NY (April 7, 2025) – The Society for Health Communication and the Journal of Health Communication at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) have published its inaugural special issue: Successes and Failures: Everything We Learned from Health Communication Campaigns and Programs. It includes nine peer-reviewed research papers from health communication programs in the U.S. and around the world, featuring insights from the consequences of campaigns, studies with innovative and/or robust evaluations that yielded less than desirable results, and lessons learned from crisis communication efforts. The entire special issue is being provided free to view for the next 30 days by Taylor & Francis.

“This inaugural special issue is the result of an official collaboration forged in 2024 between the Society and the Journal and follows an open call for papers,” says Dr. Scott Ratzan, the Journal’s founding editor-in-chief and distinguished lecturer at CUNY SPH. “We welcome all readers to engage with the Journal and Society through this special issue as we advance application of effective, quality health communication that impacts people globally.”

The special issue spotlights the scientific process and how scientists rigorously documented health communication failures, mistakes, and lessons learned to affect people’s health knowledge, beliefs and behaviors. The issue offers evidence across three broad themes including making sense of scientific failures to find communication effects; existing evidence on how emotion and other factors can condition effects; and lessons learned about how campaign development and evaluation shapes our understanding of what constitutes useful health communication activities.

You are reading Part 2 of RTI International’s series on their work with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program. Learn more about their role and process in Part 1 of the series.

The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program aims to accelerate medical breakthroughs and advance precision medicine. One of the program’s core values is for participants to reflect the diversity of the United States and its territories. This includes participants from different races, ethnicities, age groups, and regions of the country. Diversity also includes gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, disability, and health status. To support the engagement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or additional sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) people in All of Us, we co-created a community-driven and research-based video collection.

Our earlier research efforts identified barriers to LGBTQIA+ community members’ engagement with and enrollment in All of Us. Barriers included lack of awareness, representation of LGBTQIA+ communities in existing assets, and intentional outreach to LGBTQIA+ communities; concerns about privacy, data security, and participant burden; distrust of research and/or government agencies; and unclear value or benefit related to participation. We conducted collaborative workshops with LGBTQIA+ community members to validate the barriers, brainstorm potential digital solutions, and test 27 unique ideas for potential solutions to overcome the barriers. A video series about how diversity in research matters was the idea that community members rated the highest in receptivity.

Educating clinicians on the latest government clinical guidance has been an important way for Federal agencies to ensure healthcare providers adopt evidence-based best practices. Medscape Education has been developing and delivering accredited education programs for CDC, NIH, FDA, and other HHS agencies for over ten years. Following significant investment in proprietary technologies and methodologies, Medscape Education has redefined its strategies for identifying, engaging, delivering, and measuring accredited educational activities.  The groundbreaking approach drives precision targeting, guaranteed reach, and a true public health impact.

Drawing on almost three decades of educating healthcare professionals, Medscape has accumulated a wealth of data. By combining our first-party data with third-party claims data and leveraging cutting-edge machine learning technology, we are not just reporting metrics but delivering data-driven narratives on the changes that resonate with all stakeholders. These changes are driven by the Medscape Precision User Learning and Segmentation engine, PULSE, which integrates claims data, AMA data, and 30 years of Medscape data, reaching the target audience best positioned to have the greatest impact on patient outcomes.

While the PUSLE engine is new, Medscape has delivered precision targeting and impactful change for agencies like the FDA. In 2016, the FDA asked Medscape if they could develop a program to educate clinicians about fluoroquinolones, a class of antibiotics that can have serious side effects.  Using claims data, we targeted high prescribers of fluoroquinolones, directing them to educational material about side effects. 

Using a controlled/exposed methodology, short-form messaging, CME, and baseline and post-campaign claims data, we were able to measure the true impact of the campaign, which resulted in a 21.7% reduction in fluoroquinolone prescribing.  What made the difference in this campaign?   Precise messaging and education directed to those prescribers most likely to change their behaviors.  

February 8, 2024 – The Society for Health Communication, a member-driven organization working to advance the science of health communication, elected its 2024 Executive Leadership Team, three new Steering Committee members for the 2024-2025 term, and appointed a new Executive Director. Ashani Johnson-Turbes, PhD, Vice President, NORC at the University of Chicago has been elected as 2024 President, Stacy Robison, MPH, CHES, President and Co-Founder, CommunicateHealth as Vice President, and Stephanie Miles, PhD, Deputy Director, Communication Research, Fors Marsh as Secretary and Member-at-Large.

Johnson-Turbes previously served as Vice President and now chairs the Society’s Steering Committee. She partners with Robison to achieve the Society’s mission and vision, diversity, equity and inclusion, and overall growth goals. Miles will focus on organizational member engagement and retention and manage the Society’s Advisory Board.

Following an open nomination and review process, the Society appointed three new Steering Committee members for the 2024-2025 term:

Partnership seeks to foster development and sharing of learnings, evidence, and research

The Journal of Health Communication becomes an official publication of the Society 

Austin, TX and New York, NY (January 24, 2024) – The Society for Health Communication, a member-driven organization working to advance the science of health communication has forged a new partnership with the Journal of Health Communication, the highest-rated academic journal in the field. This partnership will help increase the field’s access to critical health communication research, science, and practice learnings; create new publication opportunities; and advance public health. 

Appointments reflect continued organizational growth and essential role of health communicators

February 7, 2022 – The Society for Health Communication, a member-driven organization working to advance the science of health communication, has elected Michael Grela, EVP, Head of Reputation and Social Impact, Evoke KYNE, as its 2022 President, and re-elected Shelly Spöeth, Principal Associate, Abt Associates, as its 2022 Member-at-Large. Grela is responsible for overseeing its newly-expanded Steering Committee and partnering with Executive Director Diane Brodalski and leadership to set and achieve its member engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, and overall growth goals. Spöeth will focus on organizational member engagement and retention, and management of its Advisory Board.