Maria Grazia Rossi is a specialist in medical argumentation and healthcare communication. She is an assistant research fellow at the NOVA Institute of Philosophy and an adjunct professor of communication at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the NOVA University Lisbon in Portugal.
Her research explores the discursive and ethical complexity of healthcare communication, with a focus on identifying processes and strategies — such as the use of metaphors — that foster mutual understanding and promote patient and citizen participation in health-related decision-making. Maria Grazia is currently developing a community-centred approach to health, emphasizing the interplay between public health discourse and patient-provider interactions. Her work also investigates medical scepticism and strategies for managing doubt in healthcare controversies.
She has published on a range of topics and contexts, including the use of metaphors in diabetes care and assisted reproductive technologies, communicative misunderstandings and breakdowns, and expressions of doubt in controversies such as vaccine hesitancy.
Since 2019, Maria Grazia has represented the School of Social Sciences and Humanities in the NOVA Saúde Chronic Disease and Infection Group. She also served as a member of the Advisory Committee and Deputy National Representative for Portugal at the International Association for Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) from 2018 to 2021.
