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Bio

Vinita Agarwal (Ph.D., Purdue University) is full professor of Communication in the Department of Communication at ¾Ã¾Ã¹ú²ú¾«Æ·¾Ã¾Ã, Maryland. She is the author of Health Communication as Social Justice: A Whole Person Activist Approach (Routledge, 2024) and the monograph, Medical Humanism, Chronic Illness, and the Body in Pain: An Ecology of Wholeness (Lexington Press, 2020). She has co-edited the e-publication and special issue Communicating for Social Justice in Health Contexts: Creating Opportunities for Inclusivity among Marginalized Groups (Frontiers in Communication). Her work has been published in Health Communication, Journal of Patient Experience, Frontiers in Pain Research, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, Qualitative Health Research, Frontiers in Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Journal of Advanced Nursing, among other outlets. She has contributed to the International Encyclopedia of Health Communication and written several book chapters in outlets such as the SAGE Handbook of Medicine and Health. Her work has been presented in top paper panels at the National Communication Association (NCA), Eastern Communication Association, and Central States Communication Associations. She has over 50 solo-authored, competitively selected presentations in national and international conferences including the International Congress for Integrative Medicine and Health and the International Communication Association and is the recipient of the Fulton Award for Excellence in Scholarship and the University System of Maryland Women’s Health Foundation Award. Her course offerings include upper-level graduate and undergraduate courses in Health Communication, Health Engagement & Advocacy, Health Behavior Change, International Public Relations, Digital Public Relations, and Digital Strategy. She has served in leadership positions at NCA serving as past chair of the Teaching and Learning Council, as past Executive Committee member, for which she received the Presidential Citation Award from NCA's president, and as past chair of the Feminist and Gender Studies Division, and at SU in various roles as past chair of the Membership and Elections Committee, past Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Activity (2015–2016), and past member of the ¾Ã¾Ã¹ú²ú¾«Æ·¾Ã¾Ã Student Research Committee (SUSRC). She is a meditator and advocate of the integrative, person-centered, socially just whole health communicative approach (WHO, NIH, NCCIH). She enjoys spending time with her husband, Sangeet, being present for her son, Arjun (in Pittsburgh), and homeschooling her Belgian Malinois pup, Appa, always by her side and always ready for the next adventure just around the corner.