Health communication leader to speak at ECU

Dr. Gary Kreps, an innovator in health communication and visiting scholar at the East Carolina University School of Communication, will speak about the importance of scholarship in the growing field in a public lecture Oct. 26.

Kreps is a university distinguished professor, director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication and chair of the communication department at George Mason University in Virginia.

Dr. Gary Kreps

Kreps’ lecture, “Communication and the Continuum of Care: A Mandate for Health Communication Scholarship,” will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU, 115 Heart Drive on the ECU health sciences campus. The School of Communication is presenting Kreps’ lecture in conjunction with the Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU.

Kreps has been working in health communication since the 1970s. Health communication includes doctors discussing care with patients, governments advising the public on health issues and societies working to ensure that diverse populations learn about how to stay healthy.

“Increasingly, my own work is focusing on reducing health disparities for vulnerable and at-risk populations both domestically and internationally,” said Kreps, whose research projects have earned external grant awards totaling more than $31 million.

In addition to his lecture, Kreps will meet with several School of Communication and Department of Health Education and Promotion classes during his visit.

Kreps’ visit helps the School of Communication mark the fifth anniversary of the master’s degree in communication with an emphasis in health. A reception will be held at the heart institute following the lecture.

For more information about the lecture or Kreps’ visit, call Chuck Twardy at 252-328-4227 or email him at twardyc@ecu.edu.

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