Backpack students sit down with Associate Professor Nagler to talk about health, media and the power of communication.
Health information is everywhere: on social media, in the news — even on the back of your cereal box. But what happens when that information is contradictory? That’s where Associate Professor Rebekah Nagler comes in. Nagler’s research focuses on how people process conflicting health information in the media, especially when those messages impact public trust.
Nagler helps students at the Hubbard School understand how media, politics and communication shape some of the world’s most pressing health conversations. Her work has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the American Cancer Society; additionally, she’s a member of the Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy. Nagler also held the Beverly and Richard Fink Professorship in Liberal Arts from 2020 to 2023.
We sat down with Associate Professor Nagler to talk about how health communication has evolved, what students can expect in her classes and why you’ll have to travel a little further than Dinkytown to find good pizza.
Backpack: How did you end up at Hubbard?
Rebekah Nagler: There was a position that I applied to at that point called Assistant Professor in Strategic Health Communication, so it was right up my alley. I was drawn to Minnesota because the School of Public Health here is equally strong. My affiliate appointment is over there, and I split my time between the two worlds of public health and communication.
B: In your research on conflicting and controversial health information, what has been a particularly challenging moment to navigate?
RN: First, COVID was tough. What I had been studying for years was conflicting research around nutrition topics and then conflicting guidance for women around mammography screening for breast cancer. Those were more independent examples from which there was not as much — I guess I would say — political infiltration into discourse. But then when we shifted to COVID, we again saw this conflicting guidance about what people should be doing to protect themselves. But it wasn’t experts that were weighing in from the health space — it was also political actors. And so once you start having that, it layers in new ways of thinking about effects on the public and how people process that information and those recommendations.
B: What do you think students often overlook or misunderstand about health communication?
RN: That if people only knew, they would do the “right” thing — that information is all we need. If people have information, they’ll act in a particular way, the way you want them to. That is absolutely not always the case. Information can be part of what helps promote healthy behavior or prosocial outcomes, but there’s lots of reasons why people might resist — whether it’s a strategic campaign or other messaging in the information environment. Health is different from other topics because people have very personal motivations around their health that are tied closely to their identity. Resistance, in a lot of cases, can be very much part of the expectation for how people respond to information they receive.
B: What is one thing students should know about Hubbard before they graduate?
RN: How unique a faculty we have. We have folks who are at the top of their game in terms of research. To understand the volume of expertise across subfields that are in this building — whether it’s health, politics, journalism, advertising, law or history. There are tremendous research chops among the faculty, but also the idea that students get these incredible professors who have worked in the industry, helping them shore up on the skills they would need to be successful in today’s job market. The fact that we have a faculty that has both of those strengths, I think, is pretty unique.
B: What is your Hubbard Hot Take?
RN: I’m from New York originally, so my hot take is definitely about pizza: which is that there is no such thing as pizza outside of New York. It is just round, flat dough with things on it — it can be delicious, but it’s not pizza.
Written by Ashaar Ali, photo by Jessica Chung, Office Hours logo by Reagan Frystak, Backpack students.