UofM’s Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith wins prestigious Bernard J. Brommel Award from the National Communication Association

 Sept. 10, 2020 — Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith, University of Memphis professor of Communication Studies and founder and co-director of the UofM Center for Health Literacy and Health Communication, recently received the 2020 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication from the National Communication Association (NCA).

“The family caregiver has always had my heart in research,” said 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.”

The Brommel Award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the area of family communication. 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. Particularly meaningful is the COMFORT model, developed with Dr. Elaine Wittenberg, which locates the family as central to end-of-life care. Moreover, their work contributes not only to theory, but also to practice, as they actively apply their work in teaching and training health practitioners.

“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship and service,” said NCA executive director Trevor Parry-Giles. “NCA is proud to recognize Dr. Goldsmith’s significant contributions to the Communication discipline with this award.”

Goldsmith’s award will be presented virtually on Nov. 21 at the 106th NCA Annual Convention. For more information about NCA’s awards program, visit http://www.natcom.org/awards/.

Goldsmith has just published, Caring for the Family Caregiver, a book that examines the high cost and poorly addressed exigencies of the family caregiver in chronic illness, including health literacy, palliative care and health outcomes through the prism of communication.