Taylor Walker

Specializations: Narrative, Social Construction of Health & Healing, Women’s Health,

Taylor Walker earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from Ohio University in 2015. She earned her Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Cincinnati in 2017.

Taylor’s research interests include using narrative methodology and community based research to understand the social construction of health and healing, specifically concerning the areas of women’s health, environmental health, and global health. Her Master’s thesis used an ethnographic analysis to examine the roles and communicative dimensions of lay patient navigators in community based cancer interventions. Through future studies, Taylor plans on focusing her research in two major capacities: 1) how lived-experiences and community narratives surrounding global, environmental, and women’s health impact understandings of health, healing, and illness; and 2) how resilience is constructed, negotiated, and challenged in individuals experiencing acute versus chronic health diagnoses.

When not engaged in research or teaching, Taylor enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, watching movies or TV, and the occasional trivia excursion.