HOW DID YOU BEGIN YOUR CAREER IN PUBLIC HEALTH?

“I started my career in public health as a student while pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in the area of Extension Education & Community Nutrition in India. My Masters thesis involved the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) – a national-level public health program in India. This project sparked my interest in the area of public health and impressed upon me the importance it holds in any country’s national infrastructure.”

WHY ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH?

“A good public health system that meets the basic health needs of all citizens is critical for a nation’s overall economic well-being. I strongly believe that we can pursue such a goal by focusing on appropriate public health policies and combining them with innovative health care management practices and technology-based solutions.”

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO DO OUTSTANDING RESEARCH IN YOUR FIELD?

“Much of the issues that have dogged the U.S. healthcare system in the recent past can, I believe, be addressed through effective management policies and practices. My major motivation in doing research and teaching in the area of healthcare management is to help students and managers navigate and work effectively in today’s technology and consumer driven healthcare marketplace.”

Education:

• BSc/MSc, University of Kerala, India, 1993.
• MA, Nutrition Science, Syracuse University, 1997.
• PhD, Communication & Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2005.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Centre for Excellence in Cancer Communication Research (CECCR) at the Centre for Health Research and Analysis (CHSRA) , University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2005-2006.

Other Professional Qualifications:

• Registered Dietitian (R.D.) 1998 to Present

Research Interests:

Health Information Technology; Health Care Management; Health Care Marketing; Consumer Health Informatics; and Information Systems & Technologies in Healthcare

Current Research Focus:

Dr. Nambisan’s current research focuses on the impact of new information and communication technologies on the healthcare industry, and more specifically, on evaluating whether these new technology-based systems are effective in the delivery and management of health information and healthcare services.  Her dissertation work was on the role and impact of online customer communities. Specifically, her research examined the nature of customers’ interaction experiences in online customer communities and how such experiences shape customers’ attitude towards the organization and its services. She developed and validated a new theoretical construct called ‘Online Community Experience’ to study this phenomenon.  Results from this study showed that ‘online community experience’ plays a critical mediating role that leads to positive and negative customer attitudes. The model is currently being tested in different healthcare settings to understand how online health communities shape patients’ satisfaction with services rendered by health care organizations. One such project she is currently involved in is evaluating the effectiveness of an online breast cancer discussion board – CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System) run by the Centre for Health Systems Research and Analysis (CHSRA) at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Courses Frequently Taught:

• Health Information Technology – Healthcare Informatics I
• Advanced Healthcare Informatics – Healthcare Informatics II

Selected Publications and Presentations:

Refereed Journals:

Nambisan, S. & Nambisan, P. (2008). How to profit from a better “Virtual customer environment”.  MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 49, no. 3, Spring, pp. 53-61.

Nambisan, P. & Watt, J.H. (2008). Online Community Experience (OCE) and its Impact on Customer Attitudes: An experimental study, International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp. 150-175.

Nambisan, P. Conceptualizing Customers’ Online Community Experience (OCE): An experimental study. Forthcoming in International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

Conference Presentations:

Nambisan, P. (2008, March). Online Health Communities: Implications for Service Innovation in Health Care Organizations,  Academy of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (AIE) conference, China.

Watt, J.H., Rotondo, A., Ala, S.K., Wood, K.T., Kimelfeld, Y., Nambisan, P., (2008, May). Resolving the Role of Web Site Pragmatic Value in the Hierarchy of Advertising Effects,  International Communication Association conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Nambisan, P. (2007 August). Simultaneous Media Usage: A challenge for Health Communication Professionals. National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media – by Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA.

Nambisan, P., & Hawkins, R. (2006 November).  Role of Information in public health: How health care organizations can tailor it based on consumers' information seeking pattern.  American Public Health Association (APHA) 2006 conference, Boston, MA.

Nambisan, P., Gustafson, D., & Pingree, S. (2006 November). Online communities in health care services: Measuring the patient experience. American Public Health Association (APHA) 2006 conference, Boston, MA.

Nambisan, P. (2005, October). Online Customer Communities and HMOs: A Knowledge Management & Knowledge Socialization Perspective. American Medical Informatics Association, Doctoral consortium, Washington D.C.

Nambisan, P. (2005, August). Online Customer Communities and HMOs: A Knowledge Management & Knowledge Socialization Perspective. Health Care Management division of the Academy of Management 2005 conference, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Watt, J.H., Gourgey, K.L., Nambisan, P., Landau, S., & Gourgey, A (2005, July).  A model for enhancing graphical learning for students with print disabilities: An audio/tactile statistics curriculum. HCI 2005 International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada.