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As technology rapidly changes how health care is delivered, an English professor demonstrates the enduring need for humanity in patient care.
By Diane Bacha
Patients monitored by remote observers, chatbots dispensing medical advice, treatments recommended by artificial intelligence — the technology shaping people’s health care experiences has gone far beyond your doctor tapping on a laptop.
Dr. Lily Campbell, associate professor of English, is using her rhetoric background to explore the implications this has for health care professionals and their patients. Building on research shared in her recently released book, Patient Sense: Rhetorical Body Work in the Age of Technology, she is using a Marquette Way Klingler Research Fellowship to help prepare future providers for the modern health care landscape.
“There’s lots of potential for better, more patient-centered care because of these new technologies, but there are also lots of new communication challenges,” Campbell says.
The grant will support revisions to interprofessional education curriculum to incorporate technologies such as telehealth, artificial intelligence and remote patient monitoring, ultimately equipping more students to use these tools in a patient-centered context.
Her humanities background is a natural fit for this research, she says, pointing out that English and health care disciplines share a commitment to empathy and communication. “I love collaborating with my health sciences colleagues, and I also think I have something unique to offer the conversation as a humanist.”
This story was originally published in Marquette Magazine, Oct. 21, 2025.
