DCHC 2025
The 8th Biennial D.C. Health Communication Conference (DCHC)
Three day conference May 1-3
“Community-Engaged Health Communication”
The Atkin Award selection committee and the DCHC team are pleased to announce the 2025 Atkin Award recipient, Dr. Seth Noar.
Dr. Seth Noar will receive the award in recognition of his important research concerning communication and health promotion. He currently serves as the James Howard and Hallie McLean Parker Distinguished Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and is also a member of UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He conducts important health communication research on the design, implementation and evaluation of health messages and campaigns. His recent work focuses on cancer prevention and control, especially tobacco prevention and control messaging. He has published more than 250 research articles and scholarly chapters, and has been a principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or co-investigator on more than $50 million in grant-funded projects from the NIH and FDA testing health communication strategies for health promotion and disease prevention. He has been repeatedly recognized as being in the top 1% most cited researchers in the social sciences. In 2016, Noar received both the Lewis Donohew and National Communication Association outstanding health communication scholar awards, and in 2017 he received the American Public Health Association’s Mayhew Derryberry Research award. In 2023, Dr. Noar was elected as a Fellow of the International Communication Association.
The Charles Atkin Translational Health Communication Scholar Award was established in honor of the eminent health communication scholar, Dr. Charles (Chuck) Atkin, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 66. Dr. Atkin served as a member of the faculty in the Communication Department at Michigan State University for 41 years, where he served as Chair of the Communication Department for 15 years. His distinguished health communication research focused on public health communication policy, campaign strategies for prevention of breast cancer, risky alcohol use, and adoption of health promoting behaviors. He was the author of numerous frequently cited research articles, 4 books on media and alcohol use, edited special journal issues concerning communication and health promotion, and was called upon to advise major federal health agencies and testify before the US Congress. In 1998, he was honored with the MSU University Distinguished Professor award. He was also elected as a Fellow of the International Communication Association. His body of work clearly demonstrates the translational power of health communication research to guide informed evidence-based public health policies and practices.
The Atkin award has been bestowed at the DCHC biennial conference since 2011 to outstanding health communication scholars whose work has made important contributions to guiding health communication practices and policies. Previous Atkin Translational Health Communication Scholar award recipients include:
2023, Dr. Mohan Dutta, Massey University
2021, Dr. Kami Silk, University of Delaware
2019, Dr. Michelle Miller-Day, Chapman University
2017, Dr. Jay Bernhardt, Emerson College
2015, Dr. Bradford Hesse, National Cancer Institute
2013, Dr. Linda Neuhauser, University of California at Berkeley
2011, Dr. David Gustafson, University of Wisconsin
Learn more about Dr. Noar here: https://hussman.unc.edu/people/seth-m-noar
Poster submission for award consideration is due April 15th:
To be considered for top overall, early career, top student, email your PDF or PPT to DCHC@gmu.edu for consideration.
REGISTRATION IS LIVE:
https://secure.touchnet.com/C20788_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=80&SINGLESTORE=true
We are honored to announce our conference keynote will be given by Dr. Michael L. Hecht!
Michael L. Hecht (PhD, University of Illinois) is President of REAL Prevention, LLC and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Arts and Sciences and Crime, Law and Justice at Penn State University. He started in prevention research over 40 years ago, after a graduate student recruited him to collaborate on a narrative project targeting adolescent drug use. Now, Michael focuses his work on school and community-based prevention, culture and health, health message design and narrative health messages. This work includes several evidence-based interventions that advance his Narrative Engagement Theory and Principle of Cultural Grounding. keepin’ it REAL is the most widely distributed school-based curriculum since its adoption by D.A.R.E. It has been adapted for use in Nicaragua, the UK, Spain, and Mexico. Parents Stories guides parents to discuss alcohol with high school youth in order to reduce risky drinking. Both are recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General. Other evidence-based interventions include HPV Stories, which was developed with Planned Parenthood and promotes HPV vaccine among youth, women, and men and is endorsed by NCI and the American Cancer Society; Mighty Teens targeting risky sexual behavior among middle school students (with AASA: The School Superintendents Association); REAL media targeting substance use among high school students (developed with the 4-H clubs and recommended by NREPP), the Opioid Rapid Response System for prevention deaths from overdose, and the Student Athlete Wellness Portal targeting reducing prescription opioid misuse among high school athletes. He has authored more than 200 books, chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles. This work represents collaborative efforts with groups and individuals through which Michael and his colleagues hope to promote healthy, safe, and responsible behaviors.
For more information, contact: dchc@gmu.edu. Visit our Website: dchc.gmu.edu. Follow us on Facebook Facebook.com/masonDCHC