The 2026 Kentucky Conference on Health Communication is coming up!
The 19th biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Lexington April 2-4, 2026. The abstract submission deadline is coming up December 1, 2025. To learn more, visit the conference website here.
HCRC Mission
The Health Communication Research Collaborative (HCRC) brings together University of Kentucky faculty and graduate students to promote inquiry into the field of health communication. Our general purpose is to spark internal and external communication about current health communication research, make members aware of research opportunities, and provide a support network across the University for health communication scholarship, education, and service. By involving students in projects, faculty serve as mentors to the next generation of health communication scholars. In turn, students provide fresh perspectives into faculty community-based research and service. The HCRC is sponsored by the College of Communication and Information.
From The Director
The goal of the Health Communication Research Collaborative (HCRC) is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations in health communication research at the University of Kentucky. We do so by hosting meetings, workshops, training and professional development programs for faculty and graduate students and helping to plan the biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC).
Our faculty has a reputation for creating innovative interdisciplinary partnerships and multidisciplinary research teams to tackle health communication challenges. Building on the tradition of a small group of National Institutes of Health-funded health communication researchers at the University of Kentucky (including Drs. Lewis Donohew and Phil Palmgreen), today we have more than 50 faculty and graduate students involved in tailored and targeted health message design research, implementation, dissemination, and evaluation projects. Read more…
Our Reputation
Our faculty has a reputation for creating innovative partnerships with faculty in the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics, Dentistry, Design, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work to tackle health communication challenges. Building on the tradition of a small group of National Institutes of Health-funded health communication campaign researchers at the University of Kentucky, today we have more than 50 faculty and graduate students involved in tailored and targeted health message design research, implementation, dissemination, and evaluation.
UPCOMING EVENTS...
The 19th biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Lexington April 2-4, 2026. The theme of the conference is Health as a Human Right: The Role of Health Communication. For more information about the conference, including abstract submission guidelines, visit the conference website here.
NEWS OF INTEREST...
The 8th biennial DC Health Communication conference was a rousing success. The keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Hecht, President of REAL Prevention, LLC and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Arts and Sciences and Crime, Law and Justice at Penn State University. The winner of the 2025 Atkin Translational Scholar award was Dr. Seth Noar, who is the James Howard and Hallie McLean Parker Distinguished Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and a member of UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.