Meet the experts
Laura Brown, Ph.D.
Dr. Laura Brown is the founding co-director of the Center for Health Communication Think Tank and current Program Director for the UTNY program. She is an expert in interpersonal communication, particularly in the health realms, with experience developing effective communication strategies and skills in group and individual formats.
Drew Coolidge, Ph.D.
Drew Coolidge is a communication consultant at UT Austin. He aims to assist clinicians in effectively managing small interactional moments that can have large, downstream consequences.
Erin Donovan, Ph.D.
Dr. Erin Donovan is a senior strategist for the Think Tank and a professor in communication studies at UT Austin. She specializes in interpersonal health communication and how people can successfully navigate difficult conversations with family, friends, and health care providers while coping with illness, stress, and uncertainty. Her expertise includes interpersonal communication processes such as disclosing and receiving bad news, social support and coping, and exchanging complex medical information.
Remington Johnson, M.Div.
Remington Johnson is co-director for the CHC Think Tank and ensures the day-to-day operations of the Think Tank keep moving forward. She has spent the last 10+ years working with care teams as a complex care navigator in both acute and post-acute care settings.
Matthew McGlone, Ph.D.
Dr. Matt McGlone is a senior strategist for the CHC Think Tank and a professor in communication studies at UT Austin. He studies social influence, persuasion, and deception, focusing on language’s key role in these processes. His current research projects explore strategic word choice in messages promoting wellness, patience, disaster preparedness, and prosocial behavior; stereotyping and prejudice in interpersonal communication; (in)civility in social media discourse; and the language people use to describe pain, illness, and addiction.
David Ring, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. David Ring is the Associate Dean for Comprehensive Care and a professor at Dell Medical School. Trained as a hand and orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ring’s extensive research, patient care, and quality and patient safety leadership contributed to an understanding of and a passion for the ways that mindset and circumstances affect human illness.