Contact Information
702 South Wright Street
Urbana IL 61801
Research Interests
Health Communication, Qualitative Methods, Identity, d/Discourse, Health Disparities
Research Description
I study communication as a site in which health knowledge—and the authority to define it—is actively negotiated within and beyond relational contexts. My current research explores how people labor for credibility and care in familial and therapeutic relationships. From a critical perspective, I consider how such labor is shaped by and is shaping raced, classed, and gendered discourses of deservingness that contribute to health inequity. My long-term goal is to help researchers and practitioners cultivate a health care landscape that is more just and responsive to difference.
Education
M.A., Communication, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
B.A., Communication, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Courses Taught
Instructor of Record
- CMN 101: Public Speaking
- CMN 260: Introduction to Health Communication
- CMN 336: Family Communication
Faculty Extender
- CMN 507: The Future of Work in Health Communication
- CMN 595: Communication and Health Disparities
Highlighted Publications
Babu, S., Koven, M., Thompson, C. M., & Makos, S. (2024). (Re)making scales: Communicative enfranchisement in women’s narrative discourses about health dismissal. Health Communication, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2386716
Thompson, C. M., Babu, S., Gerlikovski, E. R., McGuire, M., Makos, S., Ranallo, A., & Robieson, I. (2023). Living with long COVID: A longitudinal interview study of individuals’ communicative resilience over the “long haul.” Health Communication, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2257941
Thompson, C. M., Babu, S., & Makos, S. (2023). A grounded theory of credibility work and illness: Explication and application to the case of women on trial in health care. Communication Research, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231184318