I teach and write about communication in the context of health, illness, and loss, exploring how people connect and care for one another during some of life's most difficult experiences. My research examines the stories people tell about health, dying, and grief-and how these stories shape understanding, empathy, and support.
My work focuses especially on moments of transition-the befores and afters that accompany health challenges-and what these moments reveal about how relationships endure and change. I use narrative and ethnographic methods to study communication, with the goal of helping people communicate more compassionately and competently in the face of illness.
In my teaching, I invite students to think deeply about how communication both sustains and transforms us, and how story sharing can bring comfort, meaning, and connection.
