Encyclopedia of Health Communication

Teresa L. Thompson, Ph.D., formerly taught at the Univer-sity of Delaware and is currently professor of communication at the University of Dayton. She earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; her master's at Pur-due University; and her doctor-ate at Temple University, all in communication. She has edited the journal Health Communication for over 25 years and has authored or edited seven books and over 75 articles on various aspects of health communication. Her research focuses on concerns related to provider-patient interaction, organ donation, disability and com-munication, death and dying, and gender issues. Her co-edited volume, Handbook of Health Communication, won the 2004 Distinguished Book Award jointly sponsored by the Health Communication Divisions of the National Com-munication Association and the International Communication Association; the second edition of this book is now available. Her work has been published in such publications as Human Communication Research, Social Science and Medicine, Sex Roles, Journal of Applied Communi-cation Research, Public Opin-ion Quarterly, and Progress in Transplantation. Thompson was the 2009 National Commu-nication Association Health Communication Scholar of the Year. She has also won both the Alumni Award in Teaching and the College of Arts and Sciences Scholar of the Year Award at the University of Dayton.