Register for the First HC3 University Initiative “Health Communication in the Curriculum” Webinar

Youth leaders celebrate completing their first workshops at Red Cross in Nairobi, Kenya, where they trained as YOURS facilitators to peer-educate youngsters in their communities on road safety.
Credit: © 2013 Floor Lieshout, Courtesy of Photoshare

Join HC3 on September 5, 2014 from 9:00AM – 10:00AM EDT for the first HC3 University Initiative Webinar on Health Communication Pedagogy. The “Health Communication in the Curriculum” webinar will focus on how different types of university programs incorporate health communication into their curriculum, including how they provide practicum opportunities for students.

Three different university models (health training institute, school of communication and school of public health) will be discussed, and our panelists will describe how they approach the challenge of preparing students as scholars and professionals in this field. Dr. Doug Storey, Director for Communication Science and Research at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, will moderate the webinar.

Webinar panelists include:

Nicola Christofides, MPH, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health (South Africa) is an academic and researcher specializing in capacity development for health communication practitioners. With more than 15 years of experience managing large research projects funded by a range of donors including UNICEF, SIDA, and AusAID, she leads the Master of Public Health programme at University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health. Additionally, she was responsible for the development of the competency-based curriculum in social and behavior change curriculum and for delivering both a specialized MPH in SBCC and short-courses. Nicola’s research interests include gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health programs, and evaluating social and behaviour change communication programs and interventions. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. Itzhak Yanovitzky, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication, Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information (USA) is an expert in the areas of strategic health communication (persuasion, social marketing, and campaigns), behavior change, and program evaluation. Much of Professor Yanovitzky’s current research work is focused on enhancing the capacity of individuals and communities to acquire and use the information, tools, and resources they need to initiate, implement and support sustainable change (whether individual or social). He has over 20 years of experience working with individual and institutional clients in the public health sector to develop, promote, and evaluate strategic communication programs, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Catherine Gembe, M.Sc., Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Course Director, Primary Health Care Institute (PHCI-Iringa, Tanzania) is a health promotion specialist with experience teaching in a variety of health training institutions in Tanzania under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. She has coordinated training programs at the local and international level, and her areas of focus include capacity building in the health system, health communication, disease prevention and health interventions. Catherine has an M.Sc. in Health Promotion from University of Leeds (United Kingdom), a Diploma in Environmental Health from Muhimbili University of Health And Allied Sciences (Tanzania) and an Advanced Diploma in Health Promotion from PHCI-Iringa (Tanzania).