Hanover Center for Health Communication, Hanover, Germany
Elena Link
- 2022
- Participant
- Female Science Talents
Dr. phil. Elena Link is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Journalism and Communication Research at the Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media, Germany. She is a member of the Hanover Center for Health Communication, a team of researchers focusing on the field of health communication. Within the field of health communication, her research interests include online communication, patient-provider-communication and health and risk information seeking and avoidance. Her doctoral thesis focused on the role of trust for patients’ information-seeking behaviors, which was awarded with the German Thesis Award of the Körber-Stiftung in 2019. She acquired funding and is responsible for a project on the digital transformation of health information provision to patients as well as one subproject of the interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre SIIRI dealing with trust and patient-centered communication as determinants of implant acceptance and compliance with advanced implant treatment.
I want to support the empowerment of patients, combat information and health inequalities and shape social changes regarding the digital transformation of health information provision. I want this, because it is crucial for individual’s wellbeing as well as successful medical progress to consider social and communication-related needs of patients. I can do this, because I am a passionate researcher specialized on health communication examining barriers and predictors how patients acquire and deal with health information.