Julia van Weert is Professor of Health Communication and the Head of the Department of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). She is also founding director of the Amsterdam Center for Health Communication/ACHC, co-lead of the Health sector within the national Gravitation program AlgoSoc (Public Values in the Algorithmic Society), co-lead of the ELSA Lab AI for Health Equity and board member of the UvA’s Research Priority Urban Mental Health.
Van Weert spearheads research that connects health communication with digital technologies. At its core, her theory-driven and evidence-based research unearths underlying mechanisms of online information processing and how digital (AI-based) technologies impact health outcomes and wellbeing. Her research focuses on effective health communication, in particular for underprivileged and high risk, vulnerable people such as older patients, people with limited health literacy and migrants. Her team examines the specific communication needs of these groups and the potential of digital tools to improve patient-provider interactions, health outcomes and health equity.
Van Weert is particularly interested in the role of eHealth, mHealth and AI-based technologies in health communication, investigating how digital tools like patient portals and virtual coaches can influence patient-provider communication, overall patient well-being and health. Her work aims to clarify the complex relationships between digital information and patients' cognitive, emotional, and health outcomes.
Internationally recognized for her contributions, Van Weert has received numerous prestigious awards and is an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association (ICA). With around 250 publications, she maintains a vast international network and frequently engages in public debates and lectures for diverse audiences.
She is also involved in several high-impact projects, including the NWO Data2Person project SNOWDROP, the ZonMw-funded ADFICE_IT project, and EU projects like MentalHealth4all and Label2Enable, all focused on advancing digital innovation in health communication.
For full details, please see her CV available at the top of this website.