Angela Palmer-Wackerly

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Angela Palmer-Wackerly

Associate Professor Communication Studies University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Contact

Address
LPH 351
Lincoln, NE 68588-0329
Phone
402-472-2070 On-campus 2-2070
Email
apalmer-wackerly2@unl.edu

ANGELA PALMER-WACKERLY, PhD, , specializes in health communication and is most passionate about working with community members and organizations to meet their health communication needs. Her research focuses on how identity, supportive communication, and decision-making affect health outcomes—particularly for those marginalized through geography, racial/ethnic identity, and (mental) health conditions. Currently, her projects focus on women’s health in mid-life, communication skills training for medical assistants, and (mental) health for immigrant and refugee populations. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches, including arts-based and mixed methods research, she hopes to promote (mental) health, belongingness, and well-being for all. Angela directs the HEAL Lab, which works to improve the Health of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world through Equity, Advocacy, and Listening. She is also the Rural Health Research Leader for the Minority Health Disparities Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

Representative Publications

Palmer-Wackerly, A. L., Coffey, J., Wheeler, L. A., Emmerich, C., Gonzalez, L., Chaidez, V., Acosta, L., Tippens, J. A., Wahed, K. H., & Chai, W. (2025). Centering U.S. rural, immigrant Latinx adolescent voices through narrative mapping: Exploring a novel approach to communicated narrative sense-making. Health Communication, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2499751

Cooke-Jackson, A. F., Ellingson, L., & Palmer-Wackerly, A. L. (2025). Engaging creative and arts-based research approaches to expand equity, advocacy, and impact of health and disability communication research. Special Forum issue for Health Communication, 1–5. https://doi-org.libproxy.unl.edu/10.1080/10410236.2025.2527395

Stahl, H., Taladay-Carter, C., & Palmer-Wackerly, A. L. (2025). “Probably benign?!”: A thematic narrative analysis of illness narratives in patients with benign breast disease. Health Communication, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2539460

Tippens, J. A., Palmer-Wackerly, A. L., Njiru, L., Nyagero, J., Okwarah, P., Kang, J. S., Lawson Tettevie, F., Micheni, L. M., Kariuki, S. M., & Lakati, A. (in press). Aging alone in the city: Systemic exclusion, social isolation, and loneliness among older refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Journal of Urban Health.

Voorhees, H. L., Koenig Kellas, J., Palmer-Wackerly, A. L., Gunning, J. N., Marsh, J., & Baker, J. (in press). Making sense of memorable messages about infertility: Examining message valence by theme and sender. Health Communication.  

Palmer-Wackerly, A. L., Voorhees, H. L., Koenig Kellas, J., Marsh, J. S., Baker, J. T., Housh, B. C., & Hall, R. D. (2022). How individuals use metaphors to negotiate fertility treatment decision-making with their romantic partners. Health Communication. Early online version. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2096984

Iannarino, N. & Palmer-Wackerly, A. L. (2022). Fertility preservation decision-making communication in young adult cancer patients and their romantic partners: An application of the DECIDE typology. Health Communication, 37(6), 778-789. https://doi-org.libproxy.unl.edu/10.1080/10410236.2020.1868065

Palmer-Wackerly, A. L., Reyes, M. S., Ali, S. H., Carrasco, K. G., Habecker, P., Houska, K., Chaidez, V., Soliz, J., Tippens, J. A., Holland, K. J., Pytlik Zillig, L., Patterson, K. & Dombrowski, K. (2021). Examining and evaluating multilevel communication within a mixed-methods, community-based participatory research project in a rural, minority-majority town. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 49(2), 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2020.1851042

Teaching

Graduate

  • Comm 954: Seminar in Health Communication
  • Comm 955: Communication, Medicine, and Health Equity
  • Comm 957: Community-Based Participatory Research

Undergraduate

  • COMM 354: Health Communication
  • COMM 364: Communication, Medicine, and Health Equity
  • COMM 374: Mental Health Communication: Communication, Stigma, and (Dis)Connection
  • COMM 489: Communication Studies Capstone
  • Comm 368: Communication and Aging