HHGR with Dr. Sarah Singer

“The Patient Empowerment Paradox: Lyme Disease Rhetoric and Contested Health Literacies”

This talk will be based on Dr. Singer’s new book The Patient Empowerment Paradox. Singer analyzes published narratives, interviews, healthcare provider websites, and a patient data bank, as well as her own experience as a patient, to reveal how individuals become entangled in medical debates, misinformation, and decision fatigue. For Lyme researchers and scholars of other chronic and contested illnesses, she provides a framework to better understand the rhetoric of medical uncertainty and pave the way for improved patient outcomes.

Dr. Sarah Singer is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. She earned her B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research contributes to a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of chronically ill people and aims to inspire more patient-centered and equitable healthcare practices.