By Jon Stemmle
We’re a month into 2012, and we’ve seen quite a few changes both in our Center and on the health communication landscape.
In January, Glen Cameron stepped down as director of the HCRC. He’s going to focus more on finding new revenue streams for the Center and spend more time working with doctoral students in his role as a the Maxine Wilson Gregory Chair in Journalism Research at the Missouri School of Journalism.
We also saw several ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funded projects begin to draw to a close. Whether it’s Farm to School or tobacco cessation, it’s clear that the funding belt is tightening for health communication and policy projects. However, the importance and need of these sorts of projects are more important than ever.
This is why we all need to break from the “Ivory Tower” approach that’s been synonymous with academic research and move toward a model of collaboration with those we’re hoping to help. Instead of telling the public what they need, we need to work with them to see what they need and want and figure out how to make that happen while still using the evidence-based practices that are the best of academia.
It is through this community-based participatory research that we can hope to not only educate the public, but also by getting them involved in the process we can hope to see positive changes in policy and individual health that don’t just fade when the research is complete.
As the HCRC embarks on a new year with new leadership, a new website, and a new tenor, let’s push ahead with a new era of health communication in which the public we serve is also a public we listen to.
We hope you’ll follow our progress as we move down this path both on this blog and on our website and invite some of our partners and friends to share their thoughts on health and science communication and whatever else is on their minds.