Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Contact, publication, and social network information about Harvard faculty and fellows.

Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Ph.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture
Other Positions
Title
Institution
Department
Title
Institution
Department

Biography
2006
Fellow
2008
Fellow
2009
Mayhew Derryberry Award
2010
Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award
2011
Fellow
2013
Dale Brashers Distinguished Mentoring Award
2014
Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award
Postdoctoral Mentor of the Year
College of Liberal Arts Alumnus of Notable Achievement

Overview
Dr. K. “Vish” Viswanath is Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and in the McGraw-Patterson Center for Population Sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). He is also the Faculty Director of the Health Communication Core of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC). Other additional administrative and scientific leadership positions held by Dr. Viswanath include: Director of the Center for Translational Communication Science, DFCI; Director, Harvard Chan India Research Center and Director, Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, Harvard Chan. He is the founding Director of DF/HCC’s Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Laboratory.

Dr. Viswanath’s work is driven by two fundamental concerns: (a) how to center equity in drawing on translational communication science to promote health and well-being for ALL population groups, and (b) to involve community-based organizations and stakeholders through participatory research in promoting social change. The ultimate goal of the program of research in his lab is to influence public health policy and practice through knowledge translation and translational communication. His work draws from literatures in communication science, social epidemiology, dissemination and implementation, and social and health behavior sciences.

His work so far has documented the relationship between communication inequalities, poverty and health disparities, and knowledge translation to address health disparities. He has written more than 300 journal articles and book chapters concerning communication inequalities and health disparities, knowledge translation, public health communication campaigns, e-health and digital divide, public health emergency preparedness and the delivery of health communication interventions to underserved populations. He is the Co-Editor of four books and monographs: Mass Media, Social Control and Social Change (Iowa State University Press, 1999), Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research & Practice, 5th Ed. (Jossey Bass, 2015), The Role of Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use (National Cancer Institute, 2008) and A Socioecological Approach to Addressing Tobacco-Related Health Disparities (National Cancer Institute, 2017) and a co-author of The First 1000 Days of Life: Lessons from Social and Behavior Change Communication (Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, 2021). He was also the Editor of the Social and Behavioral Research section of the 12-volume International Encyclopedia of Communication (Blackwell Publishing, 2008)

He has served and continues to serve on several national committees including for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). He is currently the Chair of NASEM’s Consensus Study Committee on Understanding and Addressing Science Misinformation, a member of the Standing Committee on Advancement of Science Communication at NASEM, and was a member of NASEM’s Planning Committee on The Public Health Infodemic and Trust in Public Health as a National Security Threat: A Workshop.

In recognition of his academic and professional achievements, Dr. Viswanath received several awards and honors.

For more information about Dr. Viswanath’s research, visit https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/viswanathlab/.

Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
  1. R01CA230355 (VISWANATH, KASISOMAYAJULA) Jun 1, 2020 - May 31, 2025
    NIH
    Adapting and evaluating a brief advice tobacco intervention in high-reach, low-resource settings in India
    Role: Principal Investigator
  2. U54CA156734 (COLON-CARMONA, ADAN) Sep 28, 2010 - Aug 31, 2026
    NIH
    1/2 The University of Massachusetts, Boston - Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center U54 Comprehensive Partnership for Cancer Disparities Research
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  3. U54CA156732 (ABEL, GREGORY ALAN) Sep 27, 2010 - Aug 31, 2026
    NIH
    2/2 The University of Massachusetts, Boston - Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center U54 Comprehensive Partnership for Cancer Disparities Research
    Role: Principal Investigator
  4. P50CA148596 (WILLIAMS, DAVID R.) May 1, 2010 - Apr 30, 2016
    NIH
    Lung Cancer Disparities Center: Jointly Addressing Race & Socioeconomic Status
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  5. P01TP000307 (VISWANATH, KASISOMAYAJULA) Sep 30, 2008 - Sep 29, 2015
    NIH
    LINKING ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT TO PERFORMANCE IN PHEP SYSTEMS (LAMPS)
    Role: Principal Investigator

Featured Content

Bibliographic
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Updating...
This operation might take several minutes to complete. Please do not close your browser.
Local representatives can answer questions about the Profiles website or help with editing a profile or issues with profile data. For assistance with this profile: SPH faculty should contact Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairshsph.harvard.edu.
Viswanath's Networks
Click the
Explore
buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
Concepts (467)
Explore
_
Co-Authors (66)
Explore
_
Similar People (60)
Explore
_
Same Department 
Explore
_
Physical Neighbors
_
Funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, grant number UL1TR002541.