麻豆视频

Assistant Professor of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design 鈥� Studies Online Health Communities

When Erin Willis first graduated from college, she took a public relations job in Chicago. 鈥淏ecause I like people. Of course! Why else do you do PR?鈥� she thought. Her degree was in public relations and she felt capable of the work, but she didn鈥檛 really know what kind of career she wanted. After a few years of work in the industry and a few more running a regional tourism magazine in Missouri, Willis gave in to her 鈥渜uarter-life crisis,鈥� as she refers to it, and returned to school for a master鈥檚 degree in strategic communications颅鈥攁n overarching term for the ways in which organizations use advertising, public relations and design to communicate.

There, Willis found her passion in her side job at an arthritis rehabilitation facility. While translating medical research on arthritis into news articles for general audiences, she became fascinated by how people read and understand health information. 鈥淓veryone thinks that health communication is so different from PR, but in reality health communication is just persuasive messages related to health,鈥� she explains.

Inspired to pursue a doctorate, Willis started to explore online health communities. She wondered: were people coping with their disease symptoms outside of traditional health care organizations? 鈥淲e do this all the time with other aspects of our lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淵our car breaks and you Google it to find an online forum to help. We do this with our health too.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 so interesting to try to understand people鈥檚 motivations,听to try to crack that code.鈥�

-Erin Willis

Willis鈥� research shows that many patients use online communities to share methods of coping with their shared disease and to support one another. Today, she鈥檚 beginning to study how online health communities can be structured to connect patients with medical specialists, to encourage and enable members of the online community to take action to manage their disease.

But Willis has never left public relations behind. 鈥淚 study health communication,鈥� she explains, 鈥渂ut I think it鈥檚 really just PR in disguise. It鈥檚 so interesting to try to understand people鈥檚 motivations.鈥� As a young professor at the University of Memphis, Willis was given responsibility for her public relations department鈥檚 struggling internship program. She brought in industry professionals to mentor students as part of the program. Motivated and informed by their discussions with professionals, Willis鈥檚 students soon secured many more internships and jobs.

Now, as a professor at CMCI, she continues to seek out new ways to get students hands-on experience with the public relations industry. 鈥淭he new college and my department are finally bringing public relations to Boulder,鈥� Willis says. 鈥淚 am thrilled to be part of this beginning. PR is a growing field and I know my students will be successful. I鈥檓 really lucky to be able to do what I do.鈥�