Media Contact:
Karen Bollinger
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
Director of Marketing and Strategic Communication
kbollin@illinois.edu
217-265-0264
University of Illinois to Host Health Communication Conference
March 2017 event will showcase scholarly and professional research on the relationships between technology, electronically mediated communication and healthcare.
September 20, 2016 (Urbana, Ill.) – The University of Illinois’ Health Communication Online Master of Science (HCOM) program will host a state-of-the-art, 100 percent online conference, titled: Health Communication Barriers, Breakthroughs, and Best Practices (HCB3), March 1-3, 2017, and has issued a call for presentations from academics and professionals engaged in health communication.
In addition to presentations exploring current best practices, barriers and breakthroughs within the health communication field, the conference will feature three widely acclaimed keynote speakers with expertise in these topics as they relate to the conference theme. The conference will be appropriate for professionals in many areas of healthcare, particularly those with an interest in the intersections between technology and patient experiences, health literacy, provider-patient communication, cultural health communication, e-health accessibility, and application of theory to real-world practice.
“Technology is shaping the future of how professionals in healthcare communicate with each other and provide service to the public. We have seen enormous benefits to recent advances in e-health, but there are also many challenges that inhibit productivity, successful communication, and ultimately, patient care,” explained John Lammers, Department of Communication Program Director. “The goal of this HCB3 conference is to generate discussion to identify which electronically mediated communication strategies and tools enhance the healthcare experience, and which barriers we still have yet to overcome. We hope to unite a community of the great academic and professional minds of our time to solve the problems that currently exist, and help shape the ways that technology and health communication evolve in the years ahead.”
The open call for presentations invites participation from educators, graduate students, postdoctoral students, researchers, and professionals of all healthcare fields to submit abstracts and presentation proposals for this conference. As HCB3 will be online and asynchronous, Prezi technology will be used to create a dynamic and interactive conference community. Prospective authors may submit their proposals in Prezi format via electronic submission process by November 15, 2016. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by December 1, 2016.
During the conference, each presentation will be rated by conference attendees and an award will be given to the top 10 best presentations (determined by number of views and average rating), and the authors of those presentations will be asked to attend a live online Q&A session with viewers to discuss their research in early April 2017.
About the HCB3 Sponsor: The HCOM Program
The Health Communication Online Master of Science (HCOM) program provides a unique perspective and approach to health communication, recognizing that health outcomes depend significantly on communication processes. The HCOM program is asynchronous and offered 100 percent online with a comprehensive, interdisciplinary mix of health communication specializations including interpersonal, family, organizational, socially mediated, and cultural communication. These specializations appeal to interests in a wide variety of professional healthcare fields, including medicine, nursing, pharmaceuticals, public health, healthcare administration, and patient advocacy. The pace of the program accommodates the lifestyle of the working professional, enabling students to advance their expertise and education without sacrificing work or home life.
