Elizabeth Hintz

Associate Professor

Department of Communication

Education

Ph.D., University of South Florida, 2021

About

Elizabeth A. Hintz (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is an Associate Professor of Health Communication at the University of Connecticut. She holds affiliate appointments in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy and is a Senior Editor at the journal Health Communication. Her research sits at the intersection of interpersonal, family, and health communication, with a focus on how people navigate difficult conversations about complex, stigmatized, and poorly understood health conditions. She co-developed the theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement.

She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles along with many book chapters and several edited volumes. Her work appears in journals such as Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Social Science & Medicine, and Health Communication. Her research has also been featured in public and professional outlets including The New York Times, The BBC, and WIRED.

Dr. Hintz’s research program is collaborative and interdisciplinary. She has served as a principal investigator, co-investigator, or consultant on projects supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and international funding agencies. She has received a Fulbright-Tampere University Scholar Award, completed a research fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Germany, and was named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster.

Her work has received numerous awards for scholarship, including the Donald P. Cushman Memorial Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the Franklin H. Knower Outstanding Article Award, and three Early Career Awards from the Health, Interpersonal, and Family Communication Divisions of the National Communication Association. Her dissertation received Outstanding Dissertation Awards from both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.

In addition to her research, Dr. Hintz teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in health communication, family communication, and qualitative research methods. She mentors graduate and undergraduate students and is active in professional service, including editorial roles and leadership positions within the field.

She earned her M.A. from Purdue University and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. She is originally from Wisconsin. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and spending time with her husband and three fluffy cats, Keaton, Lionel, and Winnie.