Brannon awarded Fulbright for global health AI research
Grace Ellen Brannon, associate professor in the University of Texas at Arlington’s Department of Communication, has received a 2025-26 Fulbright U.S. Scholar award from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. She’ll join the faculty at the University of Augsburg beginning in January.
Dr. Brannon will teach courses in health, interpersonal and patient-provider communication. She will also expand her research on what encourages or prevents people from using artificial intelligence for health care communication across different cultures.
“Part of the research will be to develop sample health provider messaging and test it with both German and U.S. populations to determine how patients perceive the messaging,” Brannon said. “Ultimately, we hope to have recommendations for health care providers in both countries detailing the best ways to implement and integrate AI into patient-provider communication, especially considering the role of family.”
In today’s rapidly evolving technological age, AI has the potential to be used in many ways. Brannon will collaborate with faculty and graduate students at her host university to explore innovative uses of AI and assess how patients may or may not want to interact with it during their medical care. The goal is to help health care providers introduce AI into their patient care effectively.
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Brannon, who earned both her bachelor’s and master’s in communication at UT Arlington, has conducted health communication research for more than a decade. Her work focuses on identifying communication strategies that promote positive health outcomes and reduce negative ones.
“I hope this experience helps lay the groundwork for some decades-long international collaborations, especially since we’re in such a global world and technology plays such a huge role,” Brannon said. “I think it’ll be extremely valuable working with students from a different culture and with different backgrounds, especially to contextualize how I teach now and possibly bring new teaching practices back to UTA.”
Related: Maria Trache named Fulbright U.S. Scholar
Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research, often continuing collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.
Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program annually. In addition, over 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants—recent college graduates, graduate students and early career professionals—participate in study/research exchanges or as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.
For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit fulbrightprogram.org.
About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
Celebrating its 130th anniversary in 2025, The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of the thriving Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With a student body of over 41,000, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 280,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.