Dawn Opel Dawn S. Opel, JD, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Digital Media and User Experience in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures. She received her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University, her JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her PhD from Arizona State University. Her research focuses on healthcare service delivery improvement, with particular emphasis on design and use of information technology to enhance evidence-based practice. She is currently studying EMR interoperability and care coordination in the clinical setting, and has worked with healthcare service delivery and payment reform experts to create online resources for clinics. She teaches courses in user experience research and design, technical and professional writing, and the rhetoric of health and medicine.