Organization

The ECHC 2027 is hosted by Tampere University in collaboration with the ECREA Health Communication Section.

Anna Sendra Toset is a Project Manager at Tampere University and an Adjunct Professor (Docent) at Åbo Akademi University. With a background in journalism, she received her PhD in Anthropology and Communication in 2019 from Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Her research focuses on studying digitalization processes from different perspectives, especially in the context of health. Dr. Sendra Toset is co-author of the book Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective (2026) and the Country Ambassador in Finland of the ECREA Health Communication Section (2026-).

Sinikka Torkkola is a Senior Research Fellow at Tampere University and an Adjunct Professor (Docent) at the University of Oulu. Her research focuses on health communication, healthcare communication, health journalism, and the relationship between social media and health. In addition, her research interests include gender in journalism and political journalism. Her most recent book, co-authored with Anna Sendra Toset, is Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective, published by Routledge in 2026. She is actively engaged in international academic networks and collaborates with scholars around the world. She has worked as a visiting researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia, the University of Oregon in the United States, the University of Bucharest in Romania, and Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Among her most significant international service roles, she has served as Vice Chair of the ECREA Women’s Network and as Vice Chair of the Health Communication Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).

Image: Jonne Renvall, Tampere University (from left to right: Sinikka Torkkola, Anna Sendra Toset, Leena Mikkola).