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Bio

Vinita Agarwal, Ph.D. () is Professor of Communication and Health Humanities offering graduate and undergraduate courses in Health Communication, Health Engagement & Advocacy, Health Behavior Change, Digital Strategy, and Digital Public Relations (including a special topics senior seminar Communication and Mental Health). Her scholarship attends to mental health communication from a whole person and social justice lens centering global health ethics alongside indigenous and traditional health frameworks (examining these from practitioner, provider, and patient communication perspectives). Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, Handbook contributions, and encyclopedia entries.

She is the author and editor of six books (forthcoming and published) that foreground her line of work in mental health and whole person health communication from a social justice perspective:

Forthcoming and in-press:
Book: Agarwal, V. (forthcoming; under contract). Elevating mental health through communication: Advocacy, resistance, and transformation. Routledge
Book: Agarwal, V. (Ed.).(in-press).Communication and mental health in global contexts:Opportunities for transformation, representation, and social justice (Vol. I). Routledge. Selected by Knowledge Unlatched for global Open Access funding support.
Book: Agarwal, V. (Ed.).(Forthcoming). Mental health disparities, challenges, manifestations: A communicative perspective (Vol. II). Routledge.
Handbook: Agarwal, V., & Beck,C.S. (Eds.). (Forthcoming). The Routledge handbook of health communication and social justice. Routledge.
Published:
Book: Agarwal, V. (2024). Health Communication as Social Justice: A Whole Person Activist Approach. Routledge [Includes Instructor manual and resources for instructors ]
Book: Agarwal, V. (2020). Medical Humanism, Chronic Illness, and the Body in Pain: An Ecology of Wholeness. Bloomsbury Publishing

She is a two-time recipient of NCA's Presidential Citation; a certified Health and Well-Being Coach, Duke Health; an Ayurvedic Wellness Educator and Ayurveda for Health Professionals advocate; practitioner; Vipassana meditation (Dhamma Giri, Nasik, India); and founder/owner, Whole Person Health Consulting, LLC.