Benjamin R. Bates (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is the Barbara Geralds Schoonover Professor of Health Communication in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. He is also an affiliated faculty member in the Communication and Development Studies program, the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute, and the Appalachian Rural Health Institute.
Across these programs, Dr. Bates seeks to use community-based communication tools and strategies to work toward two ends. First, to assist individuals and communities in identifying possibilities for social, economic, and political change for community betterments. Second, to strengthen community organizing structures so community members can be the architects of their own well-being.
The center of his current work is in partnership with social and biological scientists at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and in el Centro de Investigacíon para la Salud en América Latina at la Universidad Pontificia Católica del Ecuador. This project, the Health Living Initiative, operates on three action lines identified by partner communities in rural Ecuador – Infrastructure, Income Generation and Health – to eradicate Chagas Disease
In addition to research and teaching in this area, Dr. Bates has served as President of the Eastern Communication Association, past editor of Communication Quarterly, and current editor of the Southern Communication Journal. HE also chairs the social-behavioral Institutional Review Board at Ohio University.
University profile: https://www.ohio.edu/chsp/batesb