About the Institute Co-founders

Experts in the Field: We are national experts in the fields of health literacy, plain language, and health communications. We are also three of the founding members of the Clear Language Group (CLG). Other CLG founding members are: Sarah Furnas, Jann Keenan, and Janet Ohene-Frempong. See www.clearlanguagegroup.com for more information.

Extensive Professional Experience: We are active, energetic learners and practitioners, involved in wide-ranging projects that include:

Health communication and social marketing research

Materials development, design and testing

eHealth applications such as structuring
and writing website text

Organizational change for adopting plain language

Curriculum development

Teaching and consulting

We teach what we practice and practice what we teach.

Content Areas of Expertise: Our projects cover a broad spectrum of health topics. Recent work has included:

Addressing healthcare delivery issues including safety and quality of care, medical decision-making, and informed consent

Educating health professionals and students about health literacy and health communication

Helping adults understand how to prevent, manage, and make treatment choices about a range of conditions including cancer, diabetes, asthma, heart failure, depression

Developing information accessible to consumers about mental health, environmental health, aging, women’s health, nutrition, and genetic research

Creating plain language information about Medicare and changes in Medicare prescription drug coverage

Available to Help You: Need help in effective communications planning, training, organizational capacity building, plain language materials development? We are available year-round and serve clients across the country.

Contact Us:

Sue Stableford (Maine): sstableford@une.edu
Wendy Mettger (Maryland): wmettger@mindspring.com
Audrey Riffenburgh (New Mexico): ar@plainlanguageworks.com

Top

 


About Sue Stableford, MPH, MSB

Sue co-founded the Health Literacy Institute at the University of New England 16 years ago with the late Jane Root, Ph.D. Together, they launched a statewide health literacy training program in Maine and then expanded it into the National Summer Institute for health professionals from around the country.

Sue provides training to many organizations, including large federal health agencies, healthcare delivery systems, and health communications firms. She creates award-winning plain language health materials and informed consent prototypes, consults on eHealth projects, participates in health literacy research projects and federal plain language policy initiatives, and teaches in health profession visiting education programs. She has been awarded a Pfizer Health Literacy Visiting Professorship each year since 2003.

To contact Sue, email or call her at the
Health Literacy Institute
Center for Health PolicyPlanning & Research
University of New England, Portland, Maine
sstableford@une.edu
Tel: 207-221-4567

For more information about the
University of New England: www.une.edu/com/chppr/hli.asp

Top

 


About Wendy Mettger, MA

Wendy Mettger is a leading expert in health literacy and plain language. In 1992, she co-founded the National Work Group on Cancer and Literacy, the first Federal government collaboration between health and literacy organizations. In addition, she co-authored the well-known and respected guidebook, Clear and Simple: Developing Effective Print Materials for Low-Literate Readers.

Currently, Wendy is President of Mettger Communications, a consulting firm that specializes in health literacy and plain language projects. She draws on over 25 years of experience and a master’s degree in health communication to serve as a health literacy expert to government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, nonprofit groups such as the March of Dimes, and large corporations such as Pfizer, Inc. Wendy develops easy-to-read and understand materials and web text, conducts field testing with diverse audiences, and leads workshops around the country on how to create easy-to-read materials. She also collaborates with academic researchers to design communication interventions targeting low SES individuals.

To contact Wendy,
email her at wmettger@mindspring.com
or call her at (301) 270-2774.

Top

 


About Audrey Riffenburgh, MA

Audrey Riffenburgh, M.A., is President of Plain Language Works (founded in 1994 as Riffenburgh & Associates), a health literacy and plain language firm based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Audrey, VP Maria Collis, and their associates serve clients across the U.S. and Canada. Plain Language Works projects have been honored with six National Institutes of Health awards since 2005.

Audery's background includes two decades in health literacy, adult literacy and English as a second language at the local, state, and national level. She has been awarded seven highly-competitive Pfizer Visiting Lecturer and Visiting Professor grants. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Plain Language Association InterNational and now serves on an international committee to explore developing worldwide standards for plain English. Audrey is also a Ph.D. student in health communication at the University of New Mexico.

Audrey provides training to voluntary health organizations, public health departments, federal government agencies, health and hospital systems, universities, Native American tribes and others. Her firm revises existing documents and web text to reach a broader public audience, as well as developing new reader-friendly print materials.

To contact Audrey,
email her at ar@plainlanguageworks.com
or call her at (505) 345-1107.

Top