I regularly give keynotes, invited lectures, and workshops for academic and public audiences, and I am available for media commentary in my areas of expertise. I am on sabbatical for the 2026–2027 academic year and especially welcome speaking invitations during this time.
Topics I speak on
- Wellness culture, clean eating, and orthorexia — how “eating right” became an obsession, and what healthism does to us
- Science communication and scientific ethos in the digital age — trust in science, podcasts and biohacking (e.g., The Huberman Lab), science in times of crisis
- The rhetoric of menopause and women’s health — including the rhetorical history of the Women’s Health Initiative
- Madness, psychiatry, and diagnosis — the history and rhetoric of mental illness, from the 19th-century asylum to the DSM
- Animal studies, vegetarianism, and food rhetoric — how we argue about what (and whom) we eat
- Scientific writing and writing pedagogy — teaching scientific communication, writing across the curriculum, AI and writing
Selected keynotes & invited talks
- Keynote (plenary speaker), 2nd International CIRLaM Conference on Communicating Medical Science in the Digital Age, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy (2023): Scientific Ethos in The Huberman Lab
- Invited lectures on Rhetoric and Law, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest (2024, 2025, 2026)
- Invited speaker, Feminist Workshop: Food as Intersectional Feminist Work, Resistance, Hope, and Community, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Cleveland (2026)
- Inaugural lecture, Animal Studies Minor Lecture Series, Saint Joseph’s University (2024): Listening to Animals — Challenging Anthropocentrism in Academia
- Invited panelist, Feminist Rhetorical Research in Medical Rhetoric (in honor of Sue Wells), Temple University (2015)
In the media
- Interviewed on NPR / Marketplace on memes, monetization, and intellectual property
- My research on orthorexia has been covered in The Times (UK), the National Post (Canada), the Daily Mail (UK), Nutrition Insight, and Telepolis (Germany)
For event organizers
Cristina Hanganu-Bresch, PhD, is Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where she directs the graduate program in Writing Studies. She is a leading voice in the rhetoric of health and medicine, the author or editor of seven books — including the award-winning Diagnosing Madness (University of South Carolina Press) and the Routledge Handbook of Scientific Communication, winner of the award for Best WAC Edited Collection — and a former Associate Editor of Medical Humanities (BMJ). Her commentary on wellness culture and eating disorders has been featured on NPR and in The Times, among other outlets.
A downloadable headshot is available here, and a current CV here.
Speaking and media inquiries: changanubresch@sju.edu
Cristina Hanganu-Bresch, PhD 
