PhD

Assistant Professor

Rachael Hernandez (Ph.D., Indiana University Purdue University – Indianapolis) is an assistant professor. Her research explores communication about sensitive health-related topics. Currently, her research focuses primarily on 1) how people manage information about health risk behaviors, and 2) how implicit biases against social groups (e.g. along the lines of race, gender, and age) have the potential to influence clinician-patient communication. Using interpretive methods, she integrates theories and perspectives from communication and bioethics into her research. Rachael’s research has been published in Health Communication, the Journal of Health Communication, Academic Medicine, and other nationally recognized journals.