Robert A. Bell

Robert Bell Portrait

Professor Emeritus

Education

  • Ph.D., College of Communication, University of Texas, Austin, 1984
  • M.A., Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 1981
  • B.S., Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 1980

About

I am a health communication specialist with a long-standing interest in social influence processes. I have applied this interest in the domains of prescription drug advertising, health information seeking, messaging strategies in health promotion, and provider-patient interaction. Prior to my retirement, I held a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences and was a member of the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research.

I retired in late June 2019 after 32 years on the UC Davis faculty and 39 years in the profession. It was my honor to serve as Department Chair on three different occasions. Although “retired,” I continue to conduct research with colleagues and former doctoral students on a variety of projects. I am currently involved in projects related to the use of narratives in health promotion, strategies for overcoming resistance to vaccination, and consumer health information processing.

My husband and I will be exploring the world in our golden years. Having migrated to the Emeritus section of this website, my goal is to stay off the Memorial page for a couple of decades.

Research Focus

I am the author or coauthor of more than 120 articles and book chapters a wide variety of outlets in communication, medicine and public health.

Publications

My full publication list can be found on my Google Scholar profile:

Teaching

Robert Bell taught courses in health communication, research methods, and media and health prior to his retirement.