Ronald E. Rice (Ph.D. & M.A., Stanford University; B.A., Columbia University) is both the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication in the Department of Communication and Co-Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC, Santa Barbara. He has been elected divisional officer in the International Communication Association and the Academy of Management, elected President and Fellow of the ICA, awarded a Fulbright Award to Finland, appointed as Wee Kim Wee Professor and then University Professor of the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal. He has co-authored or co-edited ten books, including The New Media: Communication, Research and Technology (1984), and The Internet and Health Communication (2001), both also with SAGE. He is widely published in communication science, public communication campaigns, computer-mediated communication systems, methodology, organizational and management theory, information systems, information science and bibliometrics, and social networks.
With the popularity of the Internet on the rise, more and more people are turning to their computers for health information, advice, support and services. With its information based firmly on research, The Internet and Health Communication provides an in-depth analysis of the changes in human communication and health care resulting from the Internet revolution. The contributors, representing a wide range of expertise, provide an extensive variety of examples from the micro to the macro, including information about HMO Web Sites, Internet pharmacies, and Web-Enabled hospitals, to vividly illustrate their findings and conclusions.