Contact Information
702 South Wright Street
Urbana IL 61801
Research Interests
Communication and Health Equity
Health Communication
Risk Communication
Media Effects
Research Description
Cabral Bigman’s research focuses on communication about health, risk, and inequality. She is particularly interested in the influence that messages about comparative risk and inequality have on health and communication-related behavior.
Education
Ph.D., Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 2011
M.A., Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 2008
B.A., Oberlin College, 2000
Courses Taught
Risk Communication (CMN 319, CMN 529)
Race and the Mass Media (CMN 429)
Health Communication Campaigns (CMN 464)
Communication and Health Equity (CMN 467)
Causality in Communication Research (CMN 529)
Communication, Technology, and Equity (CMN 529)
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Professor, Communication
Associate Professor, Center for Digital Agriculture, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Affiliate, Center for Social & Behavioral Science
Recent Publications
Lee, C. J., Bigman, C. A., Choi, S., & Zhao, X. (2025). The Role of Communication in Redressing Health Disparities: Mobilizing Public Support and Action. Communication Research, 52(1), 116-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221078408
Quick, B. L., Morrow, E., Bigman, C. A., Reynolds-Tylus, T., & Williamson, L. D. (2024). An evaluation of the license to save lives program to promote organ, eye, and tissue donation among teenagers. Clinical Transplantation, 38(1), Article e15183. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.15183
Bigman, C. A., Planey, A. M., Williamson, L. D., Smith, M. A., & McNeil Smith, S. (2023). ‘There will be screen caps’: the role of digital documentation and platform collapse in propagation and visibility of racial discourses. Information Communication and Society, 26(9), 1812-1829. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2041698
Usher, N., Wong, A. T., Raynal, I. R., Bigman-Galimore, C., & Maslowska, E. (Accepted/In press). Localizing COVID-19 Public Health Department Outreach on Digital Platforms: The Role of Discoverability, Reach, and Moderation for Illinois’ COVID-19 Vaccination Rates. American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642231166884
Reynolds-Tylus, T., Quick, B. L., Bigman, C. A., & Williamson, L. D. (2021). An examination of teenagers’ beliefs toward organ donor registration. Clinical Transplantation, 35(4), Article e14237. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.14237