Catherine C. Gouge

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH; COORDINATOR, HEALTH HUMANITIES MINOR

Catherine Gouge’s research explores textual and rhetorical practices in health and medicine, and she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in professional writing and editing--including medical writing and narrative medicine, science writing, multimedia writing, and writing pedagogy.

Catherine has edited special issues and written about wearable health technologies and has published extensively about the value of paying attention to divergent practices of patients and caregivers in health and medicine (practices often considered “noncompliant” or “nonadherent”). Most recently, her published work has addressed patient perceptions of empathy and ethical data practices for technical communicators using public health data.

Catherine’s other recent and forthcoming projects explore the possibilities for “Graphic RHM,” a new sub-specialty area which focusses on the intersection of graphic medicine and the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM). She co-edits a new open-access, digital "Graphic RHM" column for the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine journal and is completing work on Graphic Conversations: RHM Comics for Teaching, Research, and Engagement, an edited book collection.

Specializations:

Science, Health, and Medical Writing
Graphic Medicine and Graphic RHM
Professional Writing and Editing
Medical Humanities
Disability Studies
Writing Pedagogy

Recent Publications:

· “Tracked: Bodies, Devices, and the Rhetorics of Wearable Health Technologies” (forthcoming) in The Routledge Handbook of the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. Eds. Lisa Melonçon, Cathryn Molly, and J. Blake Scott. Co-authored with John Jones.

· “Evaluating Perspectives on Empathy in Anesthesiology Trainees: A Mixed-Methods Study of Pre-Anesthesia Encounters” (2026) in Anesthesia & Analgesia. Co-authored with Tomobi, O., Brashear, A., Totzkay, D., Chen, F., Huffmyer, J., Scalzo, D., Nemergut, E., & Guillow, R.

· Introduction to Column Two. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, 8(4). Co-authored and edited with Blake Scott.

· “Deficit, Exploitation, Beauty, Opportunity: Academics and Practitioners Talk Rural Health and the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine” (2025) in Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, 8(2), 256-280. With Lundgren, K. J., Beard, D., Bloom, Z., Burke, C., Carlson, E. B., & Winfield, A. S.

· “Race and Place: Influences on Functional Ability Among Women Ages 80+ Years” (2024) in Women & Therapy, 1–11. Co-authored with Patrick, J. H. and Spencer, S. M.

· “Building towards More Just Data Practices” (2022) in IEEE Professional Transactions. Special Issue on enacting social justice. Co-authored with Erin Brock Carlson.

· “Rural Health and Contextualizing Data” (2021) in Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Vol. 35(1). Co-authored with Erin Brock Carlson.

“Theory-Building in the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine” (2019) in Reinventing (with)Theory in Rhetoric and Writing Studies: Essays in Honor of Sharon Crowley. Eds. Judy Holiday, Andrea Alden, Kendall Gerdes, and Ryan Skinnell. Co-authored with J. Blake Scott.
“'The Inconvenience of Meeting You': Rereading Non/compliance, Enabling Care” (2018) in Feminist Rhetorical Science Studies, Eds. Amanda K. Booher and Julie Jung, Southern Illinois UP.
“'No Single Path': Making Sense of Patient Noncompliance” (2018) in Methodologies in the Rhetorics of Health and Medicine, Eds. Lisa Meloncon and Blake Scott, Routledge: 115-137.
“'Getting the Knowledge Right': Patient Communication, Agency, and Knowledge” (2018) in the Journal of Medical Humanities. 39(4), 535-551.
“Wearable Technologies and Invention” (2018) in Rhetoric Review. 37(4), 421-433. Co-authored with John Jones.
“Health Humanities Baccalaureate Programs and the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine” (2017) in Technical Communication Quarterly. 27(1), 21-32.
“Improving Patient Discharge Communication” (2017) in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. 47(4), 419-439.
“Design Principles for Health Wearables” (2017) in Communication Design Quarterly Review. 5(2), 40–50. Co-authored with John Jones and Mariah Crilley.
“Wearable Technologies, Wearing, and the Rhetorics That Attend to Them” (2016) in Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 46(3). Co-authored with John Jones.

Editing Projects:

· “Graphic RHM Column” in Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. Co-edited with Blake Scott. (ongoing)

· Graphic Conversations: RHM Comics for Teaching, Research, and Engagement. Co-edited with Blake Scott and KC Councilor. (forthcoming)

· Wearable Rhetorics: Bodies, Cities, Collectives for Rhetoric Society Quarterly. Co-edited with John Jones, 46(3). April 2016.

· Communication Design of Wearable Technologies in Health and Medicine for Communication Design Quarterly Review. Co-edited with John Jones, 5(4), December 2017.