Elizabeth Rattine-Flaherty

Elizabeth has believed in the power of communication to improve health since her years as an undergraduate student. So, after almost 15 years working in higher education, her move to a career focused on health literacy was an exciting and natural choice. She loves digging into the data, learning more about health conditions and policies, and figuring out how we can make complicated health ideas easier to understand. As a Senior Advisor of Health Literacy and Communication, Elizabeth works across HLM teams with project managers, writers, and designers to create clear messages and develop programs that help people make informed health decisions.

In her early career, Elizabeth led local and international research at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis. Her work focused on understanding and improving communication between healthcare providers and their patients. She also trained hundreds of future healthcare providers in plain language and other communication skills that make people feel comfortable talking about their health. Elizabeth is very interested in end-of-life communication, having served as a hospice volunteer for 5 years.

Elizabeth holds a bachelor's degree in international studies, a master's degree in communication studies, and a PHD in health communication from Ohio University.