About Kathleen Hoffman, PhD

Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH is Senior Health Research and Writer at Inspire. She is a communications professional, social scientist and writer who develops evidence-based communications focused on the human side of healthcare. Her research background includes experimental studies in communication, persuasion, health communication and the media and qualitative research focused on content analysis, frame analysis and ethnography. As a professional writer and communicator of nearly two decades, Kathleen is a leader in the patient empowerment movement. Kathleen earned her PhD in Communications from the University of Alabama, preceded by a master’s degree in Television and Film from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is also a two-time fellow of Healthcare Communication at Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Kathleen lives near Boston with her husband and son.
Senior Health Researcher and Writer

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Heart Bypass Surgery

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Heart Bypass Surgery Our hearts start to beat at around a month and a half into pregnancy.1 We may take its constancy for granted until something goes wrong. Worldwide, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death with 17.7 million deaths each year.2 Coronary artery disease (CAD), the most common heart disease in the US, is caused by a buildup of plaque in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. These arteries narrow and blood flow to the muscle of the heart is blocked. Heart or chest pain, called angina, and [...]

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Feb 2018By |0 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Living With Ostomy

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Living With Ostomy “The same thing could be said about guys who go to war, that unless you've been there you can't really understand what it is like and so your really best buddies are the ones that have been warriors like you…Those are the people you can really relate to the best, even more so than your own family.”  ~member of the Ostomy Support Community on Inspire. People who have been through the operation that removes all or portions of their colons, ileums or bladders must live with and adapt [...]

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Dec 2017By |0 Comments

Finding the Rarest of the Rare for Market Research

Finding the Rarest of the Rare for Market Research: Patient Journey Mapping Through In-depth Interviews People with rare diseases have poorly understood patient journeys.  Recently, Inspire conducted a project for a client to identify unmet needs and uncover the frustrations and challenges of a group of hard-to-find patients with an extremely rare condition, Primary Periodic Paralysis or PPP which affects approximately 4,000 to 5,000 diagnosed individuals in the US. PPP is an exceptionally rare genetic neuromuscular disorder which involves the ion channels in muscular membranes. Children of someone who carries the condition have a 50-50 chance of [...]

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Nov 2017By |0 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Hepatitis C Virus Liver Disease

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Hepatitis C Virus Liver Disease October is Liver Awareness Month.  Today, Inspire is sharing information about the Hepatitis C virus and its impact on the liver. Roughly 3 to 4 million people in the US have the hepatitis C virus (HCV).1  Yet progression and outcomes vary.  Of 100 people who are infected by HCV, between 15 and 25 will be cured of the disease by their own immune systems.  Unfortunately, between 75 and 85 people will develop a chronic infection.  Scar tissue in the liver, called cirrhosis or stage IV liver fibrosis [...]

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Oct 2017By |0 Comments

Diversity Initiatives? Are They Worth It?

Diversity Initiatives? Are They Worth It? When I asked audience members at a panel discussion during the inaugural Clinical Leader Forum, held in Philadelphia on May 10-11, 2017, three questions about diversity in clinical trials, I got some surprising answers. The questions were: How many attendees come from organizations that value diversity? How many come from organizations that prioritize diversity? How many attendees acknowledge their own personal biases that may impact their ability to effectively address diversification? Although many in the audience came from organizations that value diversity, there were fewer that came from organizations that are [...]

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Oct 2017By |0 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Systemic Scleroderma

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Systemic Scleroderma Approximately 300,000 people in the US live with scleroderma; about 100,000 of those people live with a form called systemic scleroderma.1 Scleroderma is a connective tissue disorder involving the fibrous protein called collagen that is found in structures like cartilage, ligaments and tendons, throughout the body.  People with  scleroderma make too much collagen and it builds up in tissues.  Often one of the first symptoms of scleroderma is hardening of the skin. The cause of scleroderma is unknown and there is no cure.  It can occur as a localized [...]

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Sep 2017By |0 Comments

Health Communications from a Linguist’s Perspective

Health Communications from a Linguist’s Perspective At the intersection of technology and innovation is improved healthcare communication.  Stanford Medicine X Conference, September 14-17, is an opportunity “to exchange bold new ideas about the future of medicine and the role technology will play in improving health.”  I'm proud to be participating in a panel discussion at Med X on Saturday, September 16.  My presentation explores the impact of social networks on interactions  between patients and their physicians as well as among patients and caregivers impacted by the same condition. Current issues impacting medical decision-making and health communication Among [...]

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Sep 2017By |0 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis In patients who have pulmonary fibrosis, the moist, elastic lung tissue starts to thicken and scar making it increasingly difficult for blood to get oxygenated. As scarring builds up over time in this progressive disease, the amount of oxygen getting to the brain and other organs of the body significantly diminishes. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is part of a larger group of illnesses called interstitial lung disease (ILD). Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare subset of this chronic disease.  Its cause is unknown, though it can run in [...]

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Aug 2017By |3 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Lens: Living with Sarcoidosis

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Lens: Living with Sarcoidosis “Imagine being in a crowd and wishing you were invisible, but you’re marked, and there is nowhere you can hide.” Shanene Higgins wrote that in her essay “Marked: My scars remind me of my purpose,” part of Inspire’s 2017 Experts by Experience eBook. Higgins has sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that can cause rashes and sores on the skin. Part of Higgins’s experience was bullying: “There were many times when people would stop and stare at me as if I was a fish in a fishbowl…One afternoon while walking…I [...]

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Aug 2017By |1 Comment

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Lens: Neurofibromatosis

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Lens: Neurofibromatosis Our “Through Your Own Lens” initiative invited members to share their personal stories through short videos. Patients have been describing their disease history, their feelings about their disease and thoughts about Inspire. Living with Neurofibromatosis Neurofibromatosis is a condition affecting the nervous system, causing tumors called neurofibromas to grow along nerves and under the skin. The two types are called neurofibromatosis type 1 or NF1 and neurofibromatosis type 2 or NF2. NF1 is the most common, occurring in 1 in 4,000 births while NF2 occurs 1 in 40,000 births.1 Caused [...]

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Aug 2017By |0 Comments