Associate Professor, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute*

Director, Health Communication Core, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

K. "Vish" Viswanath, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), a faculty member in the Center for Community-Based Research (CCBR) at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and director of the Health Communication Core of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC).  He also chairs the Steering Committee on Health Communication Concentration at HSPH and teaches courses in health communication at HSPH. Current research in Dr. Viswanath's lab at DFCI/HSPH focuses on documenting the link between inequalities in communication and health disparities, and how to address the disparities through communication and dissemination. Within this broader context, Dr. Viswanath's work is examining e-health and health disparities, learning about health from the media, information seeking among cancer survivors and patients, professional work of health journalists, the media's role in tobacco use and health communication and social capital.  The Viswanath Lab currently consists of post-doctoral fellows, doctoral students and project staff.  The work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Legacy Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Lance Armstrong Foundation among others.

Dr. Viswanath's current research program reflects his general interests, but in three distinct concentrations. The first area is an investigation of the reasons for limited access to health information and the implications of unequal access to public and individual health. The second area of focus is the study of health and science reporting, including the sociology of medical and health journalism, with an interest in bridging the worlds of science and journalism to improve health communication.  The third area examines the effects of mass media--news and entertainment--on health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The findings from this body of work are useful in designing: (a) strategies to not only enhance access to health information among the underserved, but to make this information understandable to low-literacy populations; and (b) effective messages and communication systems to reduce cancer risk and promote prevention.

Dr. Viswanath was recently appointed the chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Marketing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  He was appointed to this post by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Levitt.

Dr. Viswanath's research draws on literatures in communication science, social epidemiology and social and health behavior.  He is, however, equally concerned with bridging the gap between "discovery" and "delivery" and is working towards translating knowledge to influence public health policy and practice.

The recently completed ECHO (Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes) laboratory was created in part to address the crucial gap between research and practice.  This state-of-the-art facility is ideal for formative research and is equipped with amenities to conduct focus groups, experiments and usability studies.   The ECHO Lab is a resource for researchers to better observe and understand how their target audience reacts to a variety of message formats in different media, ranging from print materials to interactive technologies.   At a time when more health information is available than ever, a resource such as the ECHO lab is one viable tool to evaluate which health communication materials are the most effective and user-friendly.

Before coming to Harvard, Dr. Viswanath was the Acting Associate Director of the Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control & Populations Sciences, National Cancer Institute. As Acting AD of BRP, Dr. Viswanath was responsible for 50 scientific and administrative staff and for extramural scientific developments in behavioral sciences at NCI. He was also a senior scientist in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch. He went to the National Cancer Institute from The Ohio State University where he was a tenured faculty member in the School of Journalism and Communication with an adjunct appointment in the School of Public Health. Dr. Viswanath was also a Center Scholar with Ohio State's Center for Health Outcomes, Policy, and Evaluation Studies.

Dr. Viswanath is also active in professional organizations. He was the Chair of the Mass Communication Division of the International Communication Association and completed his tenure as the President of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research.  He was the Head of the Theory and Methodology Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. He is also a member of American Society for Preventive Oncology, the American Public Health Association, the American Association for Public Opinion Research & the Society for Behavioral Medicine.

He has published extensively on a range of topics spanning health communication, social epidemiology and social and health behavior in both health and communication journals. He is the co-editor of three books:  Mass Media, Social Control and Social Change (1999), Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research & Practice (2008), and the National Cancer Instituteís Tobacco Monograph: The Role of Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use (2008).  In addition, Dr. Viswanath is the area editor for Social and Behavioral Research of The International Encyclopedia of Communication (2008), a 12 volume project published by Blackwell Publishing under the General Editorship of Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach.

For more information about Dr. Viswanath's research, visit http://www.viswanathlab.org. 

Ph.D., 1990, University of Minnesota