COMMColloquium

Alternative Health Systems and Resilient Communication

Bailey Flynn, Postdoctoral Research Association, Cornell University

3 pm in 160 Mann

Reception to follow in the Hub

Health and risk communication researchers have noted many emerging threats facing global health systems, including mass migration due to climate crises and increased disinformation in an online landscape altered by AI. These concerns coincide in the United States with ongoing federal cost-cutting initiatives that are restricting funds to public health research and services. This combination creates an alarming increase in healthcare access barriers just as public health threats are rapidly expanding and changing. This talk will draw on community-partnered research to demonstrate how grassroots community health programs model communication and organizing strategies uniquely suited for such precarious times. It will also explore the obstacles facing the expansion and sustainability of such community-based health service models, and directions for message-testing research to help address these obstacles. 

Bailey Flynn is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University. Her community-based participatory research agenda amplifies understudied community health knowledges, examines the impact of juxtaclinical discourse on social issue organizing, and tests messaging strategies to advance equitable health policy. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Qualitative Health Research, Cancers, International Journal of Communication, and Communication Studies.