Personal Summary

I received my PhD in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico where I also worked as a Research Fellow at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. My academic career has mostly been spent at Washington State University where I focused on the intersection between health, communication, and culture. In my early career, I investigated the creation, utilization and dissemination of both science-based research and “habit-based” public health practice (on such topics as the diffusion of clean indoor air ordinances and the utility of drunk driving recidivism programs to name two). Later in my career, I applied community-based and culturally-centered approaches to investigate how communities themselves perceive, prioritize, and potentially engage in efforts to address health issues. Over the course of my career, I have worked with the urban homeless as well as Hispanic farm workers (on issues related to home stability), Latina pregnant or parenting teens (a digital storytelling project focused on sexuality and stigma), American Indian populations (on mental health and substance abuse), with transgender sex workers in Singapore (on access to standard social services), and other often vulnerable and marginalized populations. I am now a Research Professor in the School of Public and Community Health Sciences at the University of Montana as well as the Associate Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach Core of the Mountain West Clinical and Translational Network. 

Education

CGH   Certificate in Global Health, 2021. University of Montana School of Public and Community Health Sciences.

Ph.D.   Communication, 2006. University of New Mexico.

            Focal Areas: Health, Culture, and Communication

Dissertation: Participatory Research in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: Discourses of Challenge and Opportunity

Dissertation Chair: Dr. Everett Rogers/Dr. Brad J Hall

M.A.   Communication, 2000. California State University, Chico.

            Focal Area: Intercultural Communication

B.A.     Communication, 1991. California State University, Chico.

            Major: Organizational Communication

            Minor: Sociology       

Courses Taught

PUBH 475e PUBH 540

Teaching Experience

2022 – Present: Associate Director, Clinical and translational Research Infrastructure Network (CTR-IN) Community Engagement and Outreach Core, University of Montana, Missoula, MT.

2022 - Present: Research Professor, Center for Population Health Research, University of Montana, Missoula, MT.

2021- 2023: Behavioral Health Associate Research Scientist, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), Albuquerque, NM.

2014-2018: Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

2013-2014: Visiting Scholar, Department of Communication and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore

2006-2013: Assistant Professor, Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

2000-2005: Research Associate, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Publications

Research in Progress

Shattuck, D.G., Peterson, J.C., Ramos, M.S. & Willging, C.E. (Under Review). Outer Context Determinants Challenge and Present Opportunities for Implementing GSM-Supportive Evidence-Informed Practices in Schools. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Barnett, D., Peterson, J.C., Cahoon, J., & B. Brown (in progress). Ceremony and other traditional spiritual practices as an intervention to reduce problem substance use in an urban Native American community: An exploratory qualitative study

Barnett, D., Cahoon, J., Peterson, J.C., & B. Brown. (in progress). Effect of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and intent to participate in ceremony on substance use behaviors of urban Native American adults: Results from a community survey.

Articles in refereed journals

Barnett, D., Peterson, J.C., Liddell, J., & A. Belcourt. (In press). Traditional Ceremonial practices as a strategy to reduce problem substance use in American Indian communities: A systematic review. Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine.

M.J., Wallerstein N.B. (2019). Space within the Scientific Discourse for the Voice of the Other?  Expressions of Community Voice in the Scientific Discourse of Community-based Participatory Research. Health Communication, 35(5), 616-627. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2019.1581409

Fiddian-Green, A., Kim.S., Gubrium, A.C., Larkey, L.K., & J.C. Peterson (2019). Restor(y)ing Health: A Conceptual Model of the Effects of Digital Storytelling. Health Promotion Practice, 20(4), 502-512. doi:10.1177/1524839918825130

Gubrium, A., Fiddian-Green, A., Lowe, S., DiFulvio, G. & J.C. Peterson (2019). Digital storytelling as critical narrative intervention with adolescent women of Puerto Rican descent, Critical Public Health, 29(3), 290-301. Doi: 10.1080/09581596.2018.1451622.  

 Peterson, J.C., Gubrium, A.C. & Fiddian-Green, A.  (2018). Meth Mouth, White Trash, and the Pseudo-Racialization of Methamphetamine use in the U.S. Health Communication, 7, 1-10. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1471333.

Fiddian-Green, A., Gubrium, A., & Peterson, J.C. (2016). Puerto Rican Latina youth coming out to talk about sexuality and identity. Health Communication, 32(9), 1104-1111. DOI: 10.1080/10440236.2016.1214215

Hobbies

I live in Eureka, MT with my beautiful wife and teenaged children. When I am not doing work in Public Health, I am busy working cattle and sheep on our family ranch or volunteer assistant coaching the offensive line for the might Lincoln County Lions football team.