» Response essay: Humanizing Healthcare through Narrative Performance, by Elizabeth Whitney [pdf]
» Response essay: Spiraling Toward Hope, by Shauna M. MacDonald [pdf]
Watch a staged reading of Healthful, Heartful, and Hopeful Narrative in Medicine, performed by the authors:
» Jay Baglia (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University. Jay is an award-winning health communication scholar and teacher who frequently employs performance theory in his examination of healthcare practices and patient narratives. His Op-Ed work has been featured in Ms. Magazine, Scientific American, and on NPR (WBEZ-Chicago). Jay teaches courses in communication theory, health communication, and performance studies.
» Nicole Defenbaugh (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Health Communication at the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis. She teaches courses in behavior change, healthcare communication, gender communication, and death and dying. She worked for over eight years as a Clinical Communication Specialist, Director of Education, and Medical Educator for two healthcare systems. Her award-winning research addresses chronic illness identity, patient-provider communication, autoethnography and narrative medicine.
» Elissa Foster (PhD) is a tenured Professor at DePaul University and past Faculty Fellow of the DePaul Humanities Center. She teaches and researches primarily in the field of health communication with a particular interest in clinical communication and the preservation of the “whole person” in institutional contexts including academia. She believes that narrative inquiry is essential to her calling as a scholar. Elissa is completing her first novel.
» Shauna M. MacDonald (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Communication specializing in Performance Studies at Cape Breton University (Canada). She teaches courses in performance studies, public history, research methods, and gender communication. Her research explores the cultural significance of lighthouses, public memory, and embodied experiences of gender and sexuality. Her research has been showcased in various media outlets, including radio (NPR), television (The Secret Life of Lighthouses), podcasts, and print/online media (NatGeo).
» Elizabeth Whitney (Ph.D.) is a Professor in the department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre Arts in the City University of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community College. She teaches courses in communication and in the Gender & Women's Studies program. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Finland and is currently part of a collaborative autoethnographic research team there, writing about antisemitism and performances of populist protest.
