Faculty

At Grady College, graduate students work closely with internationally known scholars and practitioners in journalism, health and risk communication, media research, digital media and related areas.

Students also have the opportunity to study with outstanding faculty throughout the University, as they build their own specialty by choosing three cognate courses in public health, environmental science or another discipline.

Core faculty for the Health and Medical Journalism MA Concentration:

Patricia Thomas (JRMC 7340, 7355, 7356) directs the program and holds the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism. She teaches and mentors graduate students, does research on health disparities and communication, trains reporters from traditional and ethnic news organizations, and helps health professionals to communicate effectively with reporters and the public.

She has decades of experience covering medicine, public health, and life science research, and from 1991 to 1997 was editor of the Harvard Health Letter. Her book Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine (PublicAffairs, September 2001) won national and regional awards and made The Washington Post's annual list of notable books.

Thomas graduated from UC Berkeley and earned her MA at Stanford University. She was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and a visiting scholar in science and medical journalism at Boston University.

Vicki Freimuth, Ph.D. (JRMC 8165) is an international expert on crisis communication and on health promotion in industrial and developing nations. She directs UGA's Center for Health and Risk Communication and her graduate course on this topic attracts an interdisciplinary mix of students from Grady and the College of Public Health.

At UGA, Freimuth's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She came to Athens from CDC, where she was Director of Communication from 1996 to 2003. Earlier in her career, she led the research team at Porter, Novelli and Associates and consulted for the World Health Organization and other international public health agencies.

Freimuth is co-author of four books and has published scores of peer-reviewed articles. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication at Florida State University.

Jeff Springston, Ph.D. (JRMC 8130, Special Topics: Media and Public Health. New offering, Fall 2009) is an internationally known expert on using health information to empower consumers, and he is especially interested visual and interactive communication. His research has received major support from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Springston is Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Grady College, where he teaches public relations management, research and campaigns. He has created a new graduate course, Media and Public Health, for health and medical journalism students and M.P.H. students from the College of Public Health.

In addition to publishing articles in dozens of scholarly journals, Springston has produced educational videos for consumers. He earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Communication at The Ohio State University.