Center for Health Risk and Communication
Advancing Health and Well-Being through Communication Science
The University of Maryland Center for Health and Risk Communication is a cross-disciplinary research center committed to advancing human health and well-being through the scientific study of communication processes and effects in addressing societal problems related to health, risk and science.
We promote collaboration and dialogue among government, academia and industry to pursue evidence-based research that provides meaningful guidelines to the practice of health, risk and science communication. As a research center, we are also committed to training the next generation of communication scientists and building community partnerships to inform and empower disadvantaged individuals and communities.
Our Team
The CHRC team consists of faculty and students from the University of Maryland, College Park and Baltimore campuses, experts and researchers from organizations outside the University of Maryland system, as well as an advisory board comprised of distinguished scholars and professionals in the field of health, risk and science communication. CHRC faculty are leaders in their respective expertise areas and conduct externally-funded research of significant impact. Our research has been funded by various sources including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Cancer Society, Prince George’s County Health Department and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Our Expertise
Together, our faculty, students and researchers bring diverse cross-cutting expertise that is central to the study of health, risk and science communication including persuasion and social influence, public relations, mass media, social media, social networks, interpersonal communication, intergroup communication, social identity and public understanding of science. Our team studies communication processes and effects in health-, risk- and science-related domains such as cancer prevention and control, immunization, food safety and nutrition, agricultural biotechnology, disasters, environmental sustainability, occupational hazards, rural health, controversial science and technology, health literacy, sexual health, health stigma and mobile health.