University of Memphis Scholar Honored by the National Communication Association

Joy V. Goldsmith, professor of communication studies and founder and co-director of the Center for Health Literacy and Health Communication at the University of Memphis, recently was selected to receive the 2020 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication from the National Communication Association.

The Brommel Award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the area of family communication. Dr. Goldsmith’s research lies at the intersection of family and health communication, with a particular interest in family interactions surrounding chronically- and terminally-ill patients.

“The family caregiver has always had my heart in research,” said Professor Goldsmith. “Caregiving brought me into the discipline, and I am so lucky that I have had the chance to research the phenomenon, work on tools to help caregivers and support health care providers as they see the increasing need to care for the caregiver.”

Dr. Goldsmith is a graduate of Bethel College in Kansas. She earned a master’s degree at Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. She is the co-author of the recently released book Caring for the Family Caregiver (Oxford University Press, 2020).