Member
Dr. Katharine J. Head is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI), is Co-Director of the IU Center for HPV Research, and serves as the Assistant Director of the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also an affiliate faculty with the Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics at IU Health and holds an adjunct faculty position in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program at IUI. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Immunization Coalition since 2024.
Her research focuses on health communication—particularly focused on vaccination, cancer screening, patient–provider interaction, and public health campaigns. She has published over 90 academic journal articles in outlets such as Health Communication, Qualitative Health Research, Preventive Medicine, and Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics , and as a translational scholar, she also disseminates her work to groups such as school, clinics, and community organizations.
She regularly teaches classes on interpersonal communication, research methods, patient-provider communication, eHealth communication, and health communication campaigns. In community settings, she regularly teaches workshops on effective communication strategies to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.