Recorded during the 2025 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media (NCHCMM) in Atlanta, NPHIC’s Public Health Speaks podcast continues its Voices from the Field series with a thoughtful and timely conversation on health autonomy, motivation, and the role of artificial intelligence in public health communication.

In this episode, NPHIC is joined by Amelia Burke-Garcia, PhD, a longtime health communicator and Director of the Center for Health Communication Science at NORC at the University of Chicago. With more than 20 years of experience in the field, Burke-Garcia shares insights from her recent opinion piece, What Supporting [Health] Autonomy Should Look Like & How Artificial Intelligence Can Help, and unpacks how Self-Determination Theory can strengthen health communication practice.

The conversation explores how autonomy—often cited as a core principle in medicine and public health—can become uneven or conditional when people are overwhelmed by complex, and sometimes conflicting, health information. Burke-Garcia discusses how health communicators can better support autonomy by designing messages that are more empathetic, relevant, and empowering, while still advancing population health goals. She also examines how emerging AI tools may help scale tailored, evidence-based messaging in ways that build trust and meet people where they are.

Tune in for practical insights and a hopeful path forward for health communicators navigating an increasingly complex information environment.

What if the key to surviving today’s toughest public health challenges is learning how and when to share smarter? In this Voices from the Field episode, Dr. Kristen Swain, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Mississippi, explores how emerging AI tools can transform the way health communication researchers connect, collaborate, and problem-solve. In this changing public health landscape, Dr. Swain makes a compelling case for using AI to break down silos, accelerate knowledge sharing, and build stronger cross-sector, interdisciplinary research partnerships.

This conversation dives into how AI-powered collaboration can strengthen research networks, improve the translation of health information, and create more resilient systems for addressing complex public health issues. Whether you’re a researcher, communicator, policymaker, or AI-curious professional, this episode offers practical insights and forward-thinking ideas at the intersection of technology, trust, and public health impact.

If the future of health communication depends on collaboration, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

Check out the new podcast episode featuring local NPHIC member, Meredith Li-Vollmer, Ph.D, a risk communication specialist for Public Health Seattle and King County, Washington. Dr. Vollmer provides insights on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic from a local public health perspective and how polling data from the Harvard Opinion public surveys, helped them develop their communication strategies and rebuild trust.